The Dove and the Boar, part two

When I had reached my office, the gales that had been blowing had turned into a full blown storm. I took a deep breath, knowing how much this next few moments were crucial to my plans, before stepping in.

The first thing I noticed was the darkness. It was pitch black, with the wind howling outside. Ares was sitting behind my desk, though I could only see him because of his two, red eyes bearing into me as I stepped inside.

I rolled my eyes and turned on the lights. "Dramatic much?"

"The last time you spoke to me, you at least had the sense to use proper titles."

"The last time I spoke to you, I haven't humiliated you and your champion in front of all of Olympus," I said as I took a seat opposite to him.

Ares gave one of his customary, cruel smiles. I can see him barely holding the **** that I had anticipated him to unleash. But why is he holding it back?

"Why did you do it?" Ares asked.

"What?"

"Humiliate her. The more I think, the less it makes sense. The way your campers talk about you... it's not in your nature to humiliate one of your own like it. So why did you do it? I want to know."

I stared at the war god. Maybe I had underestimated him. Meanwhile Ares smiled again, and waved a hand so that a golden goblet appeared on the table. Taking a small flask, he poured a golden liquid into it and began to drink; the Nectar of the gods. It was another power move. Gods can drink it freely, while if mortals and even demigods consumed it in more than extremely small quantities, they would burn up and turn to ash.

I sighed. "You really wanna know? It's because you disgust me. All Olympians disgust me, but you most of all. After Zeus, you are probably the god who has committed most atrocities on us humans. I mean, you have a hobby of flaying people alive, damn it! Not to mention your hypocrisy. You pretend to be a big, macho man but you always choose to fight lesser opponents, and once you are done you then gloat about your own strength. That's why I did what I did; because you are an overpowered man child."

"I see. You got balls at least kid, I'll give you that." Ares said. The goblet in his hand is slightly crumpled now, and I can hear the barely restrained **** in his voice. Only a little more egging on and he would be over the edge.

"As for Clarisse," I went ahead. "Don't feel too badly about her. You heard how badly she was begging for me."

"Careful now," Ares said gritting his teeth, smashing the goblet on the table and spilling some nectar on my table. "No matter how important you think you are, I have obliterated much more powerful demigods."

"Well I don't know if I can really be considered just a demigod anymore. I like to think that I'm just human... and a little bit more." That said I picked up the goblet and gulped down the remaining nectar in one go, while savouring more the sudden nervous look on Ares' face. With my heightened senses, I could see how his eyes quickly scanning the room to see if there were any quick exits. The war god truly was a coward.

"Oh you don't have to worry Ares," I said smiling, as I put down the goblet and laced my fingers. "We would be fine, as long as you allow me to do what I do and just let me keep fucking your daughter, your girlfriend... your mother."

"My mother?" Ares hollered, throwing back his head and laughing, those his nervous eyes remained on me. "Now I know that you really are a liar, mortal. My mother is the goddess of marriage. She would not, she cannot be with man beside my father."

"Your loyalty to your mother is endearing... kid," I said in the same brash tone of Ares. "But check this out." My hand went in and out of my pocket and threw what I was holding at Ares.

The war god caught it in his hands and held it upwards to get a better look. It was a slim, gold brooch, similar to something an ancient Greek noblewoman might use to tie her undergarments. It was also made in the shape of a lily; the sacred flower of Hera.

"I took this from her after our last... encounter. A bit of a souvenir, you know? Now you know who it belongs to, you know I couldn't have stolen it because the owner would know, so the only explanation why I would have a part of your mother's underwear-"

"AAARGGHHH!!"

The rest of what I had to say was drowned out by the war god's guttural cry, as the enraged Ares swiped the table between us with one blow of hand and came at me. I quickly jumped back, while using all my mental might to shout, Now!

Just as I quickly stepped back, the door banged open and my inner council as well as Artemis barged in. Ares turned around as fast as lightening, but then stopped in his tracks and uttered a confused, "huh?"

I can understand Ares' confusion. Facing him was Artemis, her warrior face etched in anger and holding a large bow with a nocked arrow pointed straight at Ares. But she was also still wearing her slutty maid costume. That contrasted so much with the persona Artemis had built for herself over the millennia that Ares was shell shocked for a minute... and that was enough time for Artemis to let the arrow fly. It embedded into Ares' arm and he fell down.

I went and peered over at the fallen war god. Of course, a single arrow, even one shot by Artemis, cannot hurt Ares. But this was something I had specially made, and instead of an arrowhead it was a syringe, filled with white liquid which even as I looked on went into the body of Ares.

"Master!" Annabeth exclaimed, before gripping me in a tight hug. Piper and Hazel followed suit. However, afterwards, Annabeth's grey eyes went from concern to exasperation. "Why didn't you call us earlier, Master? We were waiting for the signal! Why did you wait until the last minute?"

"I was careless," I admitted. "But this would be the time Ares as he had been would exist. I wanted to tell him what a shit job he had done as a god before he was... dispatched."

Annabeth sighed, but before she could say anything, Piper had gone over to the still **** Ares and was inspecting him and the arrow. "What is this?"

"DON'T TOUCH IT!" Me, Annabeth and Hazel shouted in unison.

Piper flinched and took several steps backwards while cradling her hand. "What is it?" she whispered.

I nodded at Artemis, who bowed low and went to work. Putting on a pair of gloves she normally uses for cleaning, the goddess carefully took the arrow from Ares, gingerly wrapped it in a dark cloth and took it away for disposal. The rest of us only sighed in relief once the arrow was out of the room.

"That," Hazel said, "was a syringe, filled with water from the River Lethe."

Piper stared ahead for a few seconds before her eyes widened. "You mean-"

"The Underworld river that dead souls have to drink from if they wish to get reincarnated cause it'll wipe away all memories? Yep."

"Yes," I added. "A single drop coming in contact with your skin means memory loss for a weak. Swallow some and you are as good as gone. A whole syringe, injected straight into your bloodstream? Well even a god can't recover from that. Oh, and look, it seems like he's going to wake up. See the results for yourself."

The war god's eyes fluttered open and he looked around at us, completely confused. When they saw his eyes, the girls gasped. The normal fire in his eyes are gone, and two completely ordinary set of dark brown eyes stared ahead at us. "Who are you? What's going on?"

I quickly knelt in front of him and adapted my most empathetic voice. "It's all right my friend. They almost got us, but we are safe now. Jason, help him up."

Me and Jason took hold of each of Ares bulging arms and lifted him up and settled him down on a large sofa.

"Who are you?" Ares mumbled. Then in a much more scared voice, "Who am I? Who am I?"

"It's all right, friend," I said, before taking a chair and sitting right in front of Ares, so that my face was very close to his, allowing his newborn mind to imprint myself in it's psyche. "You are the great warrior Ares. And I am your master, your closest friend. You have sworn eternally to protect and serve me. What happened now was my enemies making an attempt on my life. But you, ever the valiant soldier, stepped in and saved my life. After all, that is what you love doing, the one purpose in your eternal life. Do you remember? Do you understand?"

Ares stared at me with an open mouth, his mind eager to fill the empty gap in it, grasping and embracing my words as if they gave him life once again. "I think... I do... master."

I smiled. "Well done, Ares, my loyal servant."

The tension left the room and Piper burst out in giggles as another Olympian fell.