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As Blackheart attempted to rip out Captain Marvel's soul, his hand seemed to hit an invisible barrier.

"What're you doing? Trying to reach into my body? Good luck with that..." Marvel said with a shrug, before punching Blackheart away and zooming further away.

* * *

Paragon narrowed his eyes. He wasn't sure how to handle the demon guy, if he even could...

Danny thought for a moment, glanced down the hall where Blackheart and the others were, then turned back towards Alex. A small, devilish smile curled around the corner of his lips, and there was a little twinkle in his eyes that practically set her nerves on end.
"I suppose..." he began. "There is one thing I could do that would put you all at ease and out of harms way."

"What do you-"

Before Alex could say anything more, the scenery around her changed drastically. She was bombarded with a wall of black smoke. When it cleared, she was standing in a dark, black columned room. Hades stood, now in front of a large throne with fire on either side. A woman in a Grecian dress stood at the bottom of the steps leading to the throne.

On the other side of her, was Paragon.


/// This was agreed upon in im. And unfortunately I am leaving once more. Back this weekend. Have fun. XP ////

Acacia looked back at the young man and gave him a slight smile. ”You are inside the home of Hades, Ruler of the Underworld. Or at least, his portion of it as far as this universe is concerned.”

Alex remained silent and stock-still for a long few moments. Had she been anything close to her namesake, he fur would have visibly been standing on end. She exhaled through her teeth as she forced herself to relax and sent a dirty look up the small set of stairs to Hades. ”Danny…I swear if you try to ****ing keep us here or try any ****, I will-.”

”Retract your claws…” the man on the throne interrupted, leaning lazily onto his arm. ”I you asked for something helpful, and I offered to both help and keep you fairly protected. If I wanted to keep you here, you would have appeared in one of my dungeons or labyrinths. Or…I could have saved time and earned a couple months worth of energy by killing you and bringing your soul back here. And since none of those options are in effect…you can trust that I have no interest in keeping you here.”

Alex stared suspiciously at him for a moment, then crossed her arms and shifted uncomfortably. He had a point. From what little she knew of the guys character…if he wanted to do something, he wouldn’t drag it out. He’d do it then and there.

Acacia turned her attention towards the throne. ”They are our guests then, master?”

”For the time being. I’m sure Alex at least will be eager to leave soon.” Hades replied, then turned his attention back towards the two. ”Can I get you anything by the way? Aside from food that is.”

Alex glanced back over at Paragon, tension slowly slipping away. ”It’s…a little difficult to explain.” she replied.

Hades, on the other hand, let an amused grin roll across his face and sat up in his seat. ”Not exactly the ”traditional” image you had in mind, is it? I can’t imagine it should come as that much of a surprise though…it is a modern age after all. I hear that the Pantheon of one of these universes has taken a more modern wardrobe as well. Most of them anyway. Aphrodite I hear wears nothing more than a sash.”

”I’d bet they’re actual deities though, aren’t they?” Alex said, looking back up at him.

Hades shrugged. ”Deities is such a complex thing in any universe. I’ll be you’re not aware that many of the “deities” of our myths were beings that visited from other planets with great powers. Occasionally they’d choose to have a “summer house” on Earth, so they were seen more often through the centuries by mortals. Written into stories, theater, poems, most art forms. Then, a lot of them decide that Earth is boring and simply leave. Of course…it would look bad if people suddenly began calling on them again, and they didn’t answer.”

”So then came the “replacements”, hm?”

”For some. As I said, many of our deities were outer beings that stayed for a period of time before leaving for home again, but not ALL. Others, as not uncommon with our universe, came from stones. Mortals granted unimaginable powers through our very special stones. The ones who bonded completely with their stones became essentially gods among men. So, they became viewed as deities. Others…well, the title is passed from generation to generation. And others are just chosen under unique circumstances.”

Alex made a bit of a face. ”So, were you all just one of those “unique circumstances?” Your whole family did come off as a bit of a corny joke to me. The Kronos children…three brothers, three sisters. And ALL of you managed to get powers and made that little Olympus group to take care of what areas of Greece you could.”

Hades grinned. ”So you DID pay some attention while your group came over for a visit. I’m impressed. I figured you all would be too busy letting my brother pamper you with the family fortune.”

Alex made even more of a face at him as her tension began to return. With a sigh, she turned back towards Paragon. ”As far as my universe is concerned, he IS Hades. As far as the world knows though, he’s just one more millionaire inheritance playboy.” she said, then tossed Danny another look. ”Literally. Tries to pull the Fonzi look, rides his motorcycle everywhere, and goes after more girls than I’ve EVER seen in my life. Whether the girl wants him to or not.” she growled, then looked back towards Paragon. His brother came to America for…personal reasons, and ended up staying. Joined our team in New York. After other issues, we met his other brother, essentially Poseidon, and half of our group was invited to come to Greece. We got to meet the whole family there. All of them might as well be normal human beings. But most of them have enough power that they could become their namesakes if they chose to. Danny’s the only one I know of that actually took that option.”

Hades smile took a rather secretive, almost malicious curl. ”Oh, trust me…there’s reason for that. You might have a conversation with your friend Sapphire if you’d like to know more about that.”

"Of course it is." Hades said with a grin, turning his attention towards the other hero. "Which is why I decided to bring you to my home as well. The man currently tackling a demon can hold his own. As well as the magician and that other American. The speedster might be able to outrun whatever comes at him. You two, however, don't have a snowballs chance in Hell down here."

Alex gave Hades a rather irritated side-long glance, but kept her attention mainly on Lucas. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't have much skill with this sort of thing either. Most I fight are thugs and meta-humans. When I took the trip to Greece, meeting the family was the extent of my interaction with them."

"That's right. A nice chunk of your other friends managed to visit my home after your villain slaughtered them." Hades said with a small grin.

A deep, highly amused giggle echoed from one of the black hallways leading to the room. Hades paused and glanced at the hall for a moment. "She's still here? Hrm." he mumbled to himself, then turned his attention towards his guests. "Anyway, I'll be happy to answer whatever questions I'm permitted to answer. Other than that, Acacia will help you with whatever you'd like. A tour, a ride back "upstairs", whatever you'd like."

"Questions answered would be great." Alex replied, turning her attention towards Hades. She didn't bother giving the laughter a second thought. She wasn't in the mood to.

"Curious?" the woman's voice called out from the dark. The tone was deep, and the words slid out of her like thick exotic chocolate. The accent that accompanied it was...difficult to place. It seemed like a mix of quite a few. "You know what happened to da cat that vas curious..."

Out stepped a bare-foot woman wearing a long black Grecian dress. Her shoulders were covered in a black sash, and her straight black hair fell behind her like a cloak. Part of it dipped across half of her face, leaving only one bright brown eye, and the curl of red lips visible. Her skin was deathly pale.

The woman grinned wider as she made her way towards the throne. More specifically, towards Lucas "Most spectacularly....and zer are so many veys for cats to die." she purred, stopping right in front of the young hero. "Curious humans though, oh, so many more possibilities. You vouldn't be a curious boy, now....vould you?" she said softly.

"Atropos...would you please leave our guest alone. At least until he decides to leave the grounds again." Hades said, his tone rather...submissive rather than commanding.

The woman glanced up at him with her visible eye, then grinned and looked back at Lucas. "I will...if I am bothering him, that is."

Alex's attention had turned towards the woman by this point as well. And she didn't seem to like the new arrival. "Atropos...?" she muttered, as if the name sounded stupid to her. Then she paused for a moment, and looked back up to Hades. Why...why did that name sound familiar? She knew she'd never met anyone with such a name. But...it was as though she'd heard the name spoken somewhere before.

"Oh?" she purred. "Is it? I thought it was a rather comfortable temperature in here." she said, edging closer.

"Atropos..."

The woman glanced back up the stairs at Hades. "Vat? Your Aphrodiety is the only one allowed to have fun?" she said, then looked back at Paragon. "I don't get anyone to talk to, let alone..."

A low, barely audiable growl rumbled out of Alex as she stared the other woman down.