"It's a strip club", Hades remarked with surprise as he looked at the building they were suppose to meet the Titans at. The dark haired god glanced down at the business card to see if this was indeed the correct address. "Why would they want to meet a strip club?" he asked Poseidon, completely baffled.

"I don't know Hades, perhaps they work there", the ocean god replied grumpily. He was still in a sour mood after the fight he and Hestia had had the night before. Having spent the last forty five minutes in Apollo's company had not improved his mood. The sun god might have given the world gifts such as the lyre (technically Hermes' gift), astounding music, sunlight, and medicine but for all the good the sun god was, he could be a self-righteous pompous ass when he wanted. Of course, Poseidon was horribly biased when it came to Apollo.

"Perhaps they own it", Apollo suggested smugly, as if it was obvious.

"I don't know, the idea of the Titans being trapped in strippers bodies kind of appeals to me", Hades said jokingly. He glanced at his watch as he continued, "It's cutting pretty close to seven. I think we should head in. Will you be alright outside Poseidon?"

"Of course. What is the worst that could happen out here? I'll be mugged by a half-clothed woman?" Poseidon said, rolling his eyes.

"You wouldn't be that lucky", Hades grinned. "Okay", he said with a glance at Apollo. "Into the lion's den we go".

Poseidon watched as the two gods headed through Plexiglas doors that each bore a silhouette of a woman. He turned and walked a little bit away from the building. Silently he partly fumed at having to stay outside and partly worried about his brother and nephew. For all he knew the pair could be walking into a trap. The plan was that if that was the case, Hades would call Poseidon on Peter's cell phone which rested in the breast pocket of his coat. What if he doesn't get the chance? What if they are attacked upon entering? It was pointless to worry about that but Poseidon couldn't help himself. He was so caught up in his thoughts that Poseidon wasn't even watching where he was going and soon smacked into another pedestrian.

It felt more as if the pedestrian had smacked into Poseidon as the god was knocked backwards, nearly causing him to fall. The other man was bigger. A tall, serious man with shortly cropped brown hair, some facial hair and blue eyes who offered no apology but instead snarled at Poseidon. "Watch where you're going old man", the man said as he brushed past.

Old man? "Excuse me?" Poseidon replied icily, turning to watch the man who was walking away. "Why don't you watch where you're going?"

The other man stopped, turning part way to look back at Poseidon. As if he was considering making Poseidon eat those words but it wasn't the man's dark expression that held Poseidon's attention. As the stranger had turned toward him, the sea god had gotten a glimpse of the gun that was under the other man's open jacket. For a moment Poseidon felt fear. It was a reaction Peter would have had since the mortal knew all too well what a gun could do to him. Poseidon wondered what would happen if the man tried to shoot him. Would he die like a mortal? Would he return to his immortal form? The sea god didn't get wonder about that for too long as the man shook his head disgustedly and turned away. "You're not worth my time".

This time Poseidon didn't retaliate. He was happy to see the stranger go. Until the stranger then headed into the strip club. Poseidon's first instinct was to follow and he already started moving when common sense spoke up. He's not going to shoot Hades or Apollo, he doesn't even know them! Who's to say he's going to shoot anyone in there? Poseidon hesitated and licked his lips nervously. But what if he does? What if he's a Titan? While Poseidon hadn't recognized the man, that didn't mean anything. He hadn't recognized the muses or Aura after all. Without further hesitation, Poseidon entered the club.

It was chaos.

Loud thumping music, neon coloured lights, men everywhere and women dancing upon most of the table tops it seemed. The other man had gotten in ahead of him and the sea god couldn't see the man in the crowd. He has to be in here, he didn't just disappear. Moving through the sea of people, Poseidon scanned the faces of the men he passed. Most of them were caught up in the tantalizing displays of flesh and more interested in the women or the next round to pay Poseidon any attention. None of them were the steely eyed gunman. Poseidon was about to head to the back of the club when he heard a voice calling out in the crowd.

"Uncle P!"

Oh no. He's not here, he wouldn't be so foolish, Poseidon thought as he halted but this was Pan and he was just that foolish. The sea god turned and soon spotted Pan sitting at a table with another young man was currently enjoying a lap dance from an enthusiastic young woman. She hid Pan's companion from Poseidon's sight until he reached their table and saw Dionysus underneath the young woman. Who else would it be? he thought. "What are you doing here Pa–Pete?" Poseidon corrected, calling Pan by his mortal's name. Oddly enough it was practically the same name as Poseidon's mortal, Peter.

"Pa-pete?" Dionysus repeated as he disentangled himself from the woman eagerly gyrating on his lap. "Is that some sort of nickname?"

"Get rid of your playmate", Poseidon ordered in response.

"Do I have to?" The wine god grinned.

"Better do as he says or he'll throw her out the nearest window", Pan advised Dionysus. "I'm here to look at naked women", Pan answered Poseidon. "Pete's apartment is sadly lacking in that department and I just happened to run into...what did you say your new name is?" He asked, glancing at Dionysus who was now shooing away the woman.

"Samson but all his friends call him Sam". Dionysus (a.k.a Sam) was one of the gods who bore a close resemblance to the body in his former life as a god. The beard was gone, revealing a smooth young face but the dark curly hair remained, along with the green eyes that were the same colour as grapevines. If his looks hadn't give Dionysus away then his mannerisms would have. A large glass of wine was clasped in one hand as the young man lounged in his chair, one leg thrown over the side. It was just like seeing him in the throne room of Olympus. Except he seemed drunker.

"Did either of you see a large man come by? He had short brown hair, was wearing a leather jacket", Poseidon described the armed stranger.

"You could be describing any guy in here", Pan noted with a glance around the room. "But I didn't notice anyone in particular. I was too busy enjoying the show", he added with a nod toward the nearest stage.

"How about Apollo and Hades then? Did you see them?"

"No. Why would they be–OH!" Pan's eyes lit up as the realization hit him. "This is the place, isn't it? Where the big top secret meeting is being held?". Despite having obviously been drinking, Pan was surprising quick on the uptake. The same couldn't be said for Dionysus.

"Apollo's here?" he exclaimed cheerfully. "And Hades? We should get one of the private rooms and have a party!" At that the wine god tried to get up from his chair. The operative word being 'tried'. Within seconds he had slumped to the floor in a fit of laughter.

Poseidon frowned. "What's wrong with him?"

Pan looked down at the laughing god with a shrug. "The guy still drinks as much as he use to back in the old days but it looks like the new body can't handle the liquor. To sum it up, he's stinking drink". Pan took a mouthful of his own drink and swallowed. "Good thing Pete here has a high booze tolerance", he said as he patted his own stomach.

"Get him out of here", Poseidon ordered. "Take Di...I mean, Sam to a place he can sober up to. I have to find the others". Pan looked as if he wanted to object but Poseidon was already turning away and heading toward the back of the bar. It was the most likely place to find the meeting Poseidon rationalized. He soon found a small hallway leading to the public bathrooms and a single door marked employees only. Obviously Poseidon head in that direction and was soon standing in a storage room, looking at another door. His first thought was that he was alone but then he noticed a pair of legs sticking out from behind a crate.

The legs belonged to a tall, muscular man who had all the makings of a body builder and looked oddly familiar. "Atlas", Poseidon murmured as he realized who it was. He crouched down to check if the Titan was still alive. Atlas was breathing and seemed only to be unconscious. Poseidon rose up and approached the second door. Instead of indulging in his impulse to open the door, the sea god stood in silence and tried to listen to what was happening on the other side.

It was nearly impossible to make out the conversation but he was able to make out the voices. He could hear Hades' calm, measured tones, another deep voice speaking soon after and could hear someone order them to shut up. The third voice belonged to the gunman, Poseidon was sure of it. He carefully opened the door a crack, hoping his movement would not be noticed right away. Through this crack Poseidon could see Apollo and Hades with their hands up in the air and he could see the back of the stranger facing toward him. Both gods appeared calm enough, despite having a weapon pointing at them. The gun was larger than Poseidon had expected.

The deep voice he had heard before was trying to reason with the gun toting intruder but reason wasn't working. Poseidon carefully closed the door and glanced about the storage room for something that could be used as a weapon. There wasn't much to pick from but his eyes fell on a crate of wine and the red headed god grabbed a hold of one slender necked bottle that felt surprisingly heavily. "It's better than nothing", he muttered and so once again he carefully opened the door, checking to make sure the gunman's attention was on the others first. Once Poseidon was certain the man was distracted, he slipped into the room and quickly came behind the stranger, swinging the wine bottle in his hand. Poseidon's aim was good and the bottle collided with the back of the gunman's head with a resounding crack.

A second later the stranger toppled to the floor, the gun falling from his hand. The wine bottle had cracked from the impact, not quite breaking but the crack traveled up the neck of the bottle and caused Poseidon to slice his palm open as he dropped the bottle. Poseidon swore as he glanced down at his palm. Blood was already seeping out of the cut. It was large enough for a bandage but not too serious.

"Well done brother", Hades congratulated Poseidon as he lowered his arms. "Hephaestus head should be sore after that".

"Hephaestus?" Poseidon repeated in a shocked voice. He looked down at the man on the floor who looked nothing like the crippled smith god that Poseidon remembered. "That's Hephaestus?"

"Indeed". It was the man with the deep voice and when Poseidon turned to face the owner of the voice, he realized why it had sounded so familiar. "We did not recognize him but Hephaestus identified himself to us".

"Father", Poseidon said curtly. Like many of the Olympians, Cronus looked different from his former self yet oddly the same as well. His skin was darker and his hair was white but the shape of the face and the eyes were the same. It amazed Poseidon that he could see similarities between his father's face and his own but it didn't soften Poseidon's heart toward the man.

Cronus smiled at Poseidon's tone. "Son", he replied softly.

"Why is Hephaestus here?" Poseidon asked, looking over the other men. Like the Titan's message had promised, there were only three of them. Not counting Atlas of course but it was clear that the god who once held up the sky had been standing guard tonight and had done a piss poor job at that.

"He was here to kill us. No doubt sent by one your kind", a thin, well-dressed man snapped at Poseidon. "I told you we couldn't trust the Olympians. They probably planned to ambush us", he said to the other Titans.

"Iapetos, please", the third Titan sighed. This Titan looked older than Iapetos (who looked like a young lawyer or wall-street broker) and had a weathered appearance with salt and pepper hair and beard. "If the Olympians had planned on assassinating us I highly doubt Poseidon would have gone to the trouble of knocking him out".

"It's a ploy Hyperion. They're trying to trick us. They want us to feel comfortable and safe and then BAM! They attack", Iapetos argued.

"You're paranoid and you've got a short memory". Hyperion gestured to the smith god on the floor. "Hephaestus himself said that this had nothing to do with the gods. He was after my mortal, not me". Poseidon frowned and was about to ask why when Hyperion went on to explain. "The mortal I've recently taken over works with the mafia", he explained. "Hephaestus' mortal was hired to kill mine and Hephaestus decided to continue on with the job, even after he recognized us".

Poseidon raised his eyebrows in surprise. That certainly didn't sound like god he knew. Yes, Hephaestus had always had a temper and could be vindictive when he wanted but he was never the kind to simply kill whoever he wanted. That sounded more like something Ares would do. Poseidon glanced at Hades for an explanation but the other god simply shook his head and shrugged. Hades had no idea what had gotten into Hephaestus either.

"I think we shall abjure this meeting gentleman", Hyperion remarked. "We've discussed all we can for tonight and frankly, the attempt on my life has left me with little urge to sit here any longer. Under different circumstance I would take Hephaestus' head for this insult and unwarranted violence but tonight I will be merciful and spare him. Should he make another attempt however..." Hyperion trailed off. "Well, I'm afraid you'll have to look for a new smith to fill that golden throne on Olympus".

With that threat still hanging in the, Hyperion, Cronus and Iapetos left the four Olympians in the backroom. It was Apollo who broke the silence with a question. "What do we do now?" Hades moved to Hephaestus' side, crouching down to check the other man's vital signs.

"The good news is that he isn't dead", Hades announced. "The bad news is that it looks like he might be out for a while". The dark haired man sat back on his heels. "What we do now my dear Apollo is take Hephaestus somewhere private where he can recoup and we can have a nice little chat about this whole assassination mess". Hades glanced at Poseidon. "I think your apartment would be best. It's closer and my landlady would be highly suspicious if I brought home unconscious body. She already dislikes my mortal Henry enough for being a mortician. I don't want her thinking he brings home dead bodies to play with after work".

Poseidon simply nodded and bent down to help Hades carry/drag Hephaestus out of the club. "You're bleeding", Hades noted as he glanced at Poseidon's right hand.

"It's nothing, just a flesh wound", the sea god replied before looking at Apollo. "Why don't you be useful boy and call us a taxi?" The sun god scowled at being called a boy but did as his uncle asked, quickly taking out his cell phone and dialing. Once Hades and Poseidon had dragged Hephaestus out the club and out onto the sidewalk, Poseidon asked his brother another questions. "Did you get a chance to talk to the Titans at all? Did they have anything to say about what was going on?"

"Oh yes", Hades answered. "We managed to talk for a little bit before mister trigger happy joined us. They claim to know nothing how we got here and nothing about the whereabouts of Zeus".

"They're lying", Apollo insisted from behind them. Poseidon glanced at him before looking to Hades for confirmation.

"We don't know that. I agree that they're certainly not telling us everything but some of what they said would appear to be true", Hades replied.

"Such as?" Poseidon questioned.

"Not here brother", Hades said as he looked around the sidewalk. "I'll explain later, in private. Now where is that damn taxi?"

Authors note: Wow, it's been a while since I updated. My only excuse is that life was hellish for a little while and I haven't really been inspired in the past few months to write anything. Which sucks but it happens. I hope to get back on track with my stories now that things in my life have gotten much better and there shall be more updates for this story and more in the upcoming month. If you want to know what's being updated and what's not, check out my user profile.

As always, I appreciate any and all comments I received. I know one or two people have pointed out spelling mistakes. I do spell check my stories but unfortunately some mistakes still slip through. I will try to be more careful in the future. Finally, a special thanks to Thalaba who has been very encouraging in the writing of this story.