Chapter 3112: Mercury Chronicles (62)

Heavenly Queen Hera's reputation among mortals might not be great, but she is certainly well-known. You can ignore whether she's busy dealing with mistresses every day, but you'll find her presence in almost every somewhat famous Greek Mythology story. Her fame is certainly sufficient.

However, from this perspective, it can be deduced that Hera is capable; after all, in the Marvel Universe, most people only recognize Odin, not Frigga. The so-called Queen of Gods only plays a supporting role to the Divine King, yet Hera always manages to oppose Zeus.

Although she has never been successful in stopping him, most stories indicate that Zeus's lovers, and even Zeus himself, are fearful of Hera, which shows the magnitude of the Heavenly Queen's reputation.

But Hera is the Goddess of Marriage, and her divine duty has her bound to Odin. She can't possibly oversee marriages and then get divorced, right?

Hera also knew that her fundamental interests were aligned with those of Zeus and Mount Olympus. Therefore, the so-called dealing with mistresses was just for show; there was no real death from the fighting, as it did not touch upon Hera's core interests, and thus she couldn't be bothered.

So, to usurp Zeus and establish Hera, one must make Hera feel that her core interests had been impacted, to realize fundamentally that Zeus couldn't be supported and that continuing to indulge him would put herself and the entire Mount Olympus in danger.

So what are Hera's core interests?

Thinking about it, it's clear. The multitude of Zeus's mistresses' children never really challenged Hera's position. Among the more prominent ones, like Apollo and Hermes, they were only main gods, on the same level as Ares, without Ares's combat prowess, and the others are not even worth mentioning—happy with any minor godly duty they are given, they were never a concern.

With Ares present, Hera's position as the Heavenly Queen was unshakable. Although Elder Gods cannot die and don't need heirs, if Zeus were to encounter some misfortune, it would undoubtedly be Ares who would ascend.

To target Hera, one must first deal with Ares.

However, dealing with Ares is not that simple; at least in the DC Universe, he is very capable. In the Wonder Woman universe, through several changes, he is either the strongest ally or the most formidable villain. To confront him first, you'd have to flip through the comics backwards.

In the comics, there are not many instances where Ares is killed; most of the time, it's only mentioned that his schemes did not succeed, and he returns to Mount Olympus to do what he must.

With several comic-world apocalyptic events, it's hard to say who holds the record for defeating Elder Gods. But if one were to identify who triumphed most effortlessly, it would undoubtedly be the legendary eldest son.

Releasing the eldest son is the best way to fundamentally shake the foundations of Mount Olympus.

But this individual isn't so easy to release. The original seal involved several main gods, and conventional methods can't open it.

Thus, once Shiller returned to Earth, he headed straight for Circe, killed her first, and then forced her spirit to possess him.

Circe's witchcraft and all other forms of magic are not quite the same; it's almost an entirely different power. Shiller, through the power of witchcraft, first snatched Faust's key, used the key to open the Gate of Netherworld, located and broke the seal of the eldest son, and led the eldest son to kill Hades first.

When they reached Mount Olympus, Ares indeed had not left, proving that the name pointed to by Edward's riddle was correct. The clever Riddler may have received some information while under Hecate's influence, leaving clues in the form of riddles that Ares was similarly affected.

Various factors intertwined, ultimately leading to Ares's death. With Ares dead and the eldest son still alive, Hera could already foresee a future where both he and Mount Olympus perished.

When things were going well on Mount Olympus, whatever Zeus did on his escapades did not impact much.

But now, Mount Olympus was on the brink of destruction due to Zeus's concessions, and Zeus still wanted to back down further, he was even indifferent to the death of his own son. From that moment on, Hera's interests diverged from those of Zeus.

Hera had to protect herself, her children, and for the sake of her and her family's honor, she had to defend Mount Olympus, while Zeus didn't want to be involved in anything, pushing it all to ruin.

Guiding Dick and the others to Mount Olympus was to test whether Hera had developed dissatisfaction with Zeus.

Zeus wanted Hecate alive to maintain their barrier against the darkness. The Young Avengers wanted Hecate dead; whoever Hera decided to help would reveal where her allegiance lay.

Once one step is taken, so too come the second and third steps—it's difficult to disembark from the "ship of thieves" once aboard.

This was just one aspect of the plan Shiller and Bruce concocted to deal with Hecate. However, understanding that Hecate wouldn't let go of her sunk costs, catching the remaining two fish would be easier.

"What? You're saying Professor Shearer has been arrested again???"

Aisha held the phone, signaling for silence in the hall as everyone turned to look. Dick leaned in to hear Director Gordon's voice on the phone.

The Director spoke intermittently, and Aisha listened intently. After hanging up, she frowned and said, "Director Gordon just called to say Amanda told him that Shearer has been arrested, he's now at Florida Supermax Prison..."

"It's the Florence ADX Supermax Prison, right?" Dick questioned. "The one Amanda created to detain superpowered criminals?"

"Oh, right, it's Florence," remembered Aisha, smacking her forehead. "In Colorado State, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains."

"That's the one," Jason joined in, swallowing his snack before saying, "Professor Shearer was locked up there before, why's he ended up there again?"

Aisha shook her head and said, "Director Gordon said he didn't know either, just that Amanda had someone deliver a message. Should we check with Tim?"

"We should, but I think we need to see for ourselves," Jason said. "Amanda has no reason to arrest Shiller again. She truly hates super villains, but if Shiller's existence can help her catch more of them, then they are the staunchest allies."

"Since the Federation Shield was established, Shiller has been serving as Amanda's psychological advisor, helping her deal with many tough nuts to crack. Not to mention the resurrection of Hecate, it's impossible that Amanda hasn't heard a whiff of it. If the Magic Goddess really returns, it's still the Federation who has to clean up the mess within America. Making things difficult for Shiller at this time would be making it difficult for herself, wouldn't it?"

After hearing this, others also felt it made sense. Raven said, "I feel that Amanda sending a message means 'Come over first, and we can discuss whatever matter there is in person.'"

"I'm afraid that's the case, but we also need to be prepared to face off with Amanda. That woman is like a stone in a dung pit—stenchy and hard. Once she sets her mind to something, she absolutely won't budge. She's really difficult to deal with."

"No worries," Jason blinked and said. "Didn't Tim just hire a lot of new staff? Maybe some of them would be willing to work for the Federation Shield."

"You want to recommend those Soviets over there? Are you serious?"

"Amanda is indeed stubborn, but she's not a one-sided patriot. As long as it's effective in combating super villains, she'll work with anyone. The experienced Soviet agents are much more useful than the greenhorns she has been picking up recently."

"Okay, it seems that this will make quite a nice gift. Hopefully, she can appreciate our politeness and tell us what's really going on."

Raven, along with a few others, arrived in Colorado State. Out of concern that Amanda might react defensively, they didn't teleport directly inside the prison but arrived at the entrance instead.

Fortunately, Amanda had known they were coming and had someone meet them at the gate. They were quickly taken to Amanda's office.

Before Amanda could say anything, Dick shared his conjecture. Amanda's eyes widened in surprise. Of course, she recognized that this was the approach of the bald One-eyed dragon from another universe. She had intended to proceed slowly, so how did the Wayne Family's adopted son get ahead of her?

However, Amanda was still very satisfied with the performance of Dick and the others. She felt they were much more polite than that rascal Bruce and had no intention of making things difficult for them, but instead spoke directly.

"It wasn't me who arrested Shiller. He came over that day asking for a favor. Considering his diligent work, I complied with his wishes, locked him in the most high-security room, and called you over after 24 hours."

Knowing that the previous run-around mission was conjured by Shiller, Aisha felt her scalp tingle upon hearing this. Could it be another giant tangled mess?

"Oh, and here's something he left for you." Amanda reached into a drawer under her desk, pulled out a package, and tossed it to Dick, then said, "He mentioned that you'd understand after seeing it."

So, they went to an adjacent rest area to unwrap the package. But instead of seeing any envelope or the like, there was a bunch of strange raw materials, like animal-dried fur and scales.

At the very bottom, they finally found a piece of paper. On the front was a complicated Array, and on the back was written, "Find me, set up and activate the Array."

Everyone was mystified, but Jason could tell it was Shiller's handwriting on the back of the paper.

Although they didn't know what the Array was specifically for, since Professor Shiller had requested it, they had no choice but to follow through.

Amanda gave them the key to Shiller's cell and had someone escort them to the door. But upon opening the room, the scene inside stunned everyone.

Shiller lay on the ground, covered in blood, his fate uncertain, with the walls around him full of claw marks and blood.

Aisha let out a sharp explosive sound and rushed in, followed by Jason and Dick. However, Raven appeared next to Shiller's body first, stopping everyone's movements and saying,

"Don't move, something's not right. There's no scent of Professor Shiller here, but rather..."

Hearing her say this, Dick quickly held back Aisha, who was about to lunge forward, and looked at Raven saying, "Rather what?"

"I can't quite describe it, but it's a powerful aura, right inside this body, and it hasn't left yet."

"Are you sure there's no trace of Professor Shiller's aura?"

"There's none." Raven affirmed, shaking her head and saying, "His Soul isn't here at all. It might have been before, but it's gone now."

"Then whose is it inside his body?"

"I don't know, but…" Raven furrowed her brows, Magic Power slowly covering the body. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and said, "Two women, one younger and one older. The younger one seems to be tormenting the older, trying to extract something from her. I didn't dare get too close, so I couldn't hear what they were actually saying."

"I understand, it looks like Professor Shiller wants to deal with these two women." Aisha nodded, looking at the bundle of materials in Dick's hand and said, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's set up the Array."

They worked together to set up the Array, with Raven standing outside it, channeling Magic Power inwards. Accompanied by the purple Magic Light glow, a huge phantom appeared in the cramped cell with the power they recognized. A voice full of surprise echoed,

"My dear daughter, where did you find such a delectable sacrifice?!"