[center][img]http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo63/NMShape/coollogo_com-14706267_zps64516cfe.png[/img][/center]
[center][b]Aubrey Adkins[/b] | [b]Scott Hunter[/b][/center]
[center][i]Written in collaboration with [@nitemare shape][/i][/center]
	Once Ares had heard Athena’s ultimatum, the God of War began to burst out into laughter.  He was laughing so hard that, if he had not been careful, he would have been rolling on the floor.  However, once this bout of laughter had ceased, Ares regained his composure and responded to Athena’s words.

	“Do you really think that the past will predict the future, Athena?  If that was true, the Spartans would have been crazy to wage war against the Athenians, who had crushed the Persians at the Battle of Marathon!  The past in fact does not matter, only the present.  And this time, things will turn out differently!”

	At once, Ares’s form began to morph until a giant dragon stood before the three heroes.  After he had inhaled a giant gulp of air, Ares, in his dragon form, unleashed a blast of fire at the three heroes.  As the dragon’s flames surrounded the enemies of Ares, it seemed from the God’s perspective that they were all being consumed by his deadly breath.  However, once Ares let up with his fire-breath, he realized that Athena, Arachne, and Icon were still standing there, unharmed.

	“Foolish half-brother!  Can you not remember the Aegis?  Not even the bolts of Zeus, that can level cities and extinct entire civilizations, can harm the great Aegis!  You are too dimwitted to know that you are beaten.  Now you shall relive another beating that shall be even worse than that which you received during the Trojan War, as it was recorded in the [i]Iliad[/i].”

	[i]“I will show you who is foolish!”[/i]  Ares roared, slamming his draconian paw down upon the three heroes.  Moments before the claws of the God of War struck the three heroes, Arachne dodged out of the way.  Her ‘sixth-sense’ allowed her to time the jump just right so that she was out of the way of Ares’ attack.  However, the same could not have been said of Athena and Icon, who got smacked by Ares’s palm.  With that said, that did not mean that Icon and the Greek Goddess of Wisdom were out for the count.  In fact, seconds after Ares’ hand smashed his enemies, Icon and Athena pushed back up against the god’s palm, sending him flying back and crashing into the temple’s wall.  As a result, the wall began to crack, revealing that the integrity of the building had been compromised.

	Moments after Icon and Athena had pushed back against the “god” calling himself Ares, sending him crashing into the temple wall, he saw cracks and fissures quickly forming in the temple’s foundation. As he looked around, he saw that several of Ares’ followers had remained in the temple during the battle, and now were in danger of allowing their devotion to this so called “God of War” be their undoing.

	“Child, pull Ares’ servant out of here.  Eikon, make sure that everyone is outside of this shrine.  I shall [i]deal[/i] with my troublesome half-brother!”  Athena then raised her spear and hurled it towards Ares.  The impact of the spear created a deafening crash, as if thunder had erupted within the confines of the shrine.

	As he approached, he saw that Ares’ dragon form’s collision with the wall had caused the temple’s exit to be blocked by falling debris. Ares’ followers stood in front of the door, futilely pulling at the debris blocking their escape. 

	[b]”Get back!”[/b] Icon said as he punched his way through the fallen mortar. 

	As he forced his way through the debris, the doorway became even more destabilized and threatened to collapse. Icon stepped into the doorway to hold up the doorway, which allowing the followers of Ares to escape the temple. Then, with a few sustained optic blasts, he was able to fuse the fissures over the door, preventing that side of the shrine to collapse in on itself. With the followers safe, Icon made his way back toward the spider woman and Polemos.

	Meanwhile, Arachne began to drag Polemos across the floor as she tried to take both of them to safety.  However, she soon realized that they would be crushed by the collapsing building before either of them got out of there.  Therefore, she needed to change up the way she would be carrying him out.  [color=B22222]“Hey, do you think your conscious enough to…”[/color]  However, once she looked down at Polemos, Arachne realized that the potion that they had given her had finally knocked him out.  [color=B22222]“Great.  Am I going to have to fireman’s carry this guy?  That would be a first.”[/color]

	Now with Polemos slung over her shoulder, Arachne hurried out of the temple, dodging the falling debris that was caused by Athena and Ares’ battle.  Once she was outside, Arachne tossed Polemos off her shoulder.  His armor clanked as he struck the ground.  [color=B22222]“Jesus, how heavy is that armor of yours?”[/color]

	Suddenly, the entire temple complex collapsed, crumbling into itself.  A cloud of rubble and dust floated up as soon as the building fell to the ground.  Once the dust cloud had dispersed, Arachne could discern a figure pulling itself out of the debris that covered the ground.  Once the figure began to approach her, Polemos, and Icon, Arachne could finally tell that the figure was Athena, who was now pulling someone behind her.  However, the person that she was dragging did not look anything like Ares.  In fact, this person had skin as white as snow and his face did not have any discernable features.  He almost had a slender man appearance.

	“This is what happens to mortals who dare to mettle with the gods.”  Athena tossed the lifeless and featureless body onto the ground in front of her.  In her hand, Athena held a small device that was implanted in this individual.  She assumed that whatever this device was, it enhanced the power of this metahuman so that he appeared to be Ares, the Greek God of War and Bloodshed.  Whether Ares was still behind this or if someone else was, Athena did not know.  However, that was a question to be answered at a different time.

	Athena then slammed the end of her spear into the ground, causing a blue light to radiate out in all directions.  Once this blue light struck Icon and Arachne, it restored their stamina, as if they had not be engaged in a difficult battle against Ares and Polemos (and it also repaired the damage that Arachne’s costume had taken when she was used as a living battering ram by Polemos).  Once the light hit Polemos, it eradicated the implant that had been placed within him and also cured him of the toxin that they used to fake a condition of latrodectism.

	Once Polemos had been freed from the control of the implant and cured from the effects of the liquid that he had been tricked into believing as the cure for being bitten by Arachne, he immediately regained consciousness, frantically looking around.  After realizing that he was in control of his own body again, Polemos picked himself up from the ground and addressed the three people who stood before him.

	“I know that this will not make any sense, but Ares was somehow able to control my body, which left me powerless to stop anything that had happened tonight.  While I could not have changed any of my actions due to the influence that Ares had over me, I promise to make up for my ‘crimes’ by helping you in the future.  Does anyone have paper and pen to write down a phone number?”

	“That will not be necessary.”  Athena interrupted.  “If I ever find need of you, I will be able to find you.  For none can hide from the all-seeing Helios.”

	“Very well.  I shall respond as swiftly as I can whenever you call for my aid.  Until then, farewell.  I please accept my most sincere apologies.”  Once he had finished speaking, Polemos turned away from the heroes and began to walk away into the distance, eventually disappearing into the night.

	[color=b22222]“Are we really just letting him leave scott free?”[/color]  Arachne complained, [color=b22222]“He used me as a human battering ram, for Pete’s sake!”[/color]

	“I see no need to take him in.  Even if we were to do so, where would he go?”  Athena countered Arachne’s complaints.  Then, the Goddess of Wisdom turned to Icon.  “Eikon, you have been an exceptional asset to this little enterprise.  I hope that I can count on your assistance in the future.  While my little pupil here might seem like only eye-candy at the moment, once I have whipped her into shape, I’m sure she’ll be able to handle her own next time.”

	[color=b22222]“What did you call me?”[/color]

	“Farewell, Eikon!  May fortune always smile upon you!  For fortune always favors the brave.”  Once Athena had finished speaking, a bright flash of light erupted from where Athena was standing.  Once the light had dimmed down, Icon discovered that Athena and Arachne were no longer standing there.  Now that he was no longer needed to stop Polemos, Icon soared up into the sky, looking for an opportunity to help the city against the riots that had broken out that night.