Escape II

"Can you go and make sure he is ok, Tesalee," Soban asked.

"Sure," Tesalee said and ran to Cerberus, giving Hercules a wide berth.

"Diad, go get my brother and tell him to bring the Mandjet," Soban said.

"Got it," Diad replied.

Soban watched him take off then turned his attention back to Hercules. Hercules dusted himself off and picked up Achilles by the neck. Soban raised his hand swiftly.

"Repel," he yelled.

Nothing happened. Hercules looked at Soban with supreme amusement.

"Be patient, hybrid, I will be done here soon," Hercules said.

The moment he was done speaking, Cerberus grabbed his legs and Tesalee shot an arrow at the back of his head. It bounced off harmlessly and Hercules shrugged off Cerberus.

"You young gods cannot hurt me," Hercules yelled.

"Then what about an adult god?" Blaze yelled before punching Hercules in the face with a flaming fist.

Hercules was sent cascading away, spinning in the air as he flew. He quickly stuck his hand into the ground and slowed himself down. Blaze turned immediately and ran away.

"I bought you a few seconds, hurry and go!" Blaze yelled.

Soban ran forward and began dragging Achilles away from the area. Hercules ran towards Soban and growled in annoyance. Caretaker quickly jumped in front of him and kicked his body. Hercules raised his hand and swatted Caretaker away. A loud rumble shook the ground and Hercules stopped in his tracks. The Juggler slowly approached Hercules and a blue frown was on his face. Hercules swung his arm down but quickly stopped in fear.

"What are you?" Hercules asked out loud.

There was no response and Hercules jumped away in fear. The ground continued to shake and Hercules grew more and more scared. A pillar of fire erupted next to Hercules and Hades appeared.

"Cerberus, you bad child, quit fooling around and get over here and put on your collar," Hades said.

Hades walked forward but Hercules quickly pulled his arm and stopped him.

"Don't go over there, that masked guy, something isn't right about him," Hercules warned.

Hades looked at the Juggler and scoffed. The Juggler's blue frown turned into a red smile. Caretaker got up to his feet and the ground stopped shaking. Hades raised his hand and a massive stream of gray fire erupted from him and engulfed the Juggler. The attack ceased but the Juggler remained. Hades' eyes widened and he looked back at Hercules.

"I told you so," Hercules said.

Suddenly an immense heat washed over the area. Soban looked up and saw the Mandjet. Hades panicked but quickly realized Ra wasn't on the ship and regained his composure. Anubis jumped off the ship and landed on the ground leaving a trail of darkness in his wake. Caretaker quickly ran over to the Juggler and grabbed his shoulder.

"Put everyone on the ship, including the circus crew, quickly," Caretaker said, wincing in the pain from the broken arm he received from Hercules.

The Juggler raised his arms and everyone but he and Anubis flew onto the ship. Hades took off into the air, created a chain of fire and placed it on the sail of the Mandjet. The chain locked itself onto the ground and five more chains sprouted from the ground and locked themselves in various spots of the Mandjet.

"You are not leaving," Hades said, his voice as cold as ice.

Anubis appeared in front of him and knocked him to the ground. Hades stood up and dusted himself off. He chuckled at the efforts of the Egyptian god and waved for him to continue his assault. Anubis dropped to the ground and darkness swelled around him. Thousands of dead soldiers sprouted from Anubis' darkness and all ran at Hades.

"That's cute," Hades said and raised his arm.

All the ground for miles around turned black and millions of dead soldiers rose from it. Hades yawned then smiled at Anubis. In fear, Anubis rose back into the air. He looked around and saw soldiers still coming out of the ground.

"Is this what the upper levels are like?" Anubis asked.

"No," Hades replied.

"What do you mean?" Anubis said as his soldiers got overwhelmed by Hades'.

"The top five gods of each society all had their power reduced by a factor of one hundred. Once we find the stone that the one who put us here sealed our power into, we shall break it and regain our full strength," Hades explained while walking through his forces towards Anubis.

"I shall find it, Hades," Hercules said.

Hades continued to make his way forward but stopped quickly. The Juggler hovered directly in front of him with a smile on his mask. Hades didn't move and stared at the empty face that was sloppily painted onto the mask.

"Who are you? Where are you from?" Hades asked impatiently.

The Juggler shrugged his shoulders and an immense shock wave cleared the battlefield of all the undead soldiers. Hades froze with fear and the Juggler turned away. The chains holding the Mandjet were destroyed and Anubis went up to the ship and sat in the pilot's chair. The Juggler hovered up to the ship and the Mandjet took off and curved around the mountain.

"Juggler, hide our presence," Caretaker said as one of his circus members healed his arm.

The Juggler wrapped Soban's group in a layer of white energy. After a second, the cloak disappeared and the energy signature they gave off was Greek.

"Good job, Juggler. Now I can rest," Caretaker said and passed out.

The Juggler floated away from the group and hovered at the bow of the ship. Anubis drove the ship around the mountain while the circus doctor went around healing everyone. He put the ship down outside the large city of Mercury. The Juggler manifested a large circus out of nothing and the circus crew exited the ship and set up the lights on the inside.

It was a cold night and Soban was fast asleep. The healed Achilles scooped up Soban and his friends one by one and carried them away into the circus tent. Cerberus was the only one awake and was sitting on the sails just staring into the night. Achilles came back to the ship and looked up at him.

"Cerberus, do you want to come in?" Achilles asked, "there's a place set up for you."

"No," Cerberus replied bluntly.

Achilles shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Cerberus struggled to keep his rage in check and wished he had stolen the collar from Hades before they left. He just had to learn to control himself better.