Creation's Guardian Ch. 08

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the advice Athena. In the meantime, I really don't wanna be involved too much in the day to day operations on all these planets. I'd prefer to set up an inter-planetary constitution with some basic laws allowing them to be self-governing within that framework. I'm thinking of appointing a governor for each planet to handle the day to day things. In addition to their normal governing duties, they would become the foundation of an inter-planetary governing council by meeting regularly to ensure everyone lives under the same laws."

Just then Apollo appeared looking wild eyed and upset. "Bob, Zeus has gone off the deep end! He's got Artemis, Demeter,and Hestia in his throne room. He's sealed all the exits. Nobody can get in. Not even Hera. He said he's gonna show you who's the king of the gods once and for all. He plans on raping and impregnating them over something Athena said and you embarrassing him by asking him to leave."

The whole castle shook as Bob's rage grew. He took a deep breath forcing himself to calm down a little. "Don't worry Apollo. Zeus isn't gonna get the chance to hurt them. It'll be okay, I promise you that! Cassandra, Kadir, Cailin, you're with me. I'll handle Zeus while you three get them the hell out of there."

Athena spoke up. "Bob I wanna go too."

"For heaven's sake Athena, you can't, you're pregnant!"

"Just give me a defensive shield like Cassandra's and I'll be fine. I'll stay out of the line of fire, I promise. But I have to show that bastard where I stand in all of this."

"All right Athena, you can come, but not until I have Zeus under control. I won't risk even the slightest chance of you getting hurt. I hope you understand."

Athena sighed. "Yeah I understand and you're right Bob. I can wait."

"Thank you Sexy Thing." Bob gave Athena a quick kiss. He turned to Cassandra. "I'm gonna have to plow through his shield. Give me thirty seconds then follow me okay?"

"Don't worry my love, we'll be right behind you."

Bob slipped through the roof into Zeus's throne room. He hung near the ceiling staying invisible while he assessed the situation. He watched in amazement as an obviously frustrated Zeus threw a lightning bolt at a laughing Artemis. "What's the matter old man? Getting weak in your old age?" she taunted.

Bob waved his hand obliterating the shield Zeus had around his throne room. He dropped noiselessly down behind Zeus and whispered in Zeus's ear. "Hey asshole, you are sooo fucked!" He became visible, throwing Zeus across the throne room into a wall as Zeus howled in shocked surprise.

Cassandra and her team appeared in the throne room just as Bob threw Zeus across the room into another wall. This time hanging Zeus there by shackling his wrists and ankles to the wall.

Bob looked at Cassandra laughing. "It's okay sweetie. They're fine. For some reason, Zeus couldn't break through their shields no matter how hard he tried. It was funny as hell. Especially with the way Artemis was taunting him to attack her."

Cassandra grinned at Bob. "Oh really," she smirked. She turned to Artemis with a giggle. "You three figured it out didn't you? Hera told me you started working on it right after she was attacked. She never told me you perfected it though."

Artemis gave Cassandra a hug. "Thank you for being here for us. Hera couldn't tell you any more because we've only tried it with two of us. We weren't even sure it would work with three of us but it's all we had so we went with it."

Bob chuckled softly. "Would one of you please tell me what in the hell you're talking about?"

"Cassandra can tell you all about it later Bob. Right now I think you need to deal with that piece of shit you left hanging on the wall."

"Zeus? He's not going anywhere. I've temporally stripped him of all his powers. As Creation's Guardian, I have full authority to do whatever I feel is necessary including stripping him of his immortality and snapping his fool neck if I felt like it. But because this incident happened on Olympus while Zeus was acting under color of law as it's king, I'm gonna leave it up to you and the rest of the Olympians to decide his fate."

Just as Bob was finishing what he was saying, Aphrodite and Athena came rushing in with Hera and Apollo right on their heels. Apollo ran to Artemis amazed that she was fine.

Hera turned to Bob. "We only caught the last part of what you said. What do you mean it's up to us?"

Bob took a deep breath and sighed. "Hera honey, I'll explain everything, I promise. But first, can you locate Hermes and ask him to round up the rest of the Olympians? Have them meet is in the banquet hall."

"Sure." Hera closed her eyes for a second then asked, "what do we do with my asshole husband while we're in the other room?"

"Don't worry about him. He can hang around where he is until we're ready for him."

Before Hera could reply Hades appeared. "What the fuck is...."

Hera stunned everyone by cutting Hades off with a shout of "SILENCE!" She then lowered her voice but her anger was still obvious in her tone. "You may be lord of the underworld Hades. But THIS is Olympus. It's MY home and despite everything your asshole brother has done today, I am STILL her queen! Furthermore, by the laws of creation, until this situation with Zeus is resolved, I have received his powers and am acting as her regent. You Will act civilized, or by the heavens I'll have you hanging on the wall beside to your brother. The next words out of your mouth will decide whether or not you join him."

Hades was shocked. He was seeing a side of Hera he'd never seen before. He knew the laws of creation as well as she did and for her to invoke them now meant that Zeus was in some deep shit. Hades wasn't sure that Hera, even with her combined powers, could do as she threatened. But he wasn't willing to take that chance.

"My queen, I apologize for disrespecting you and your home. I assure you it will never happen again. I pledge you my loyalty. I, and my blade are yours to command."

Hera nodded. "Much better Hades. I think after you've learned what occurred here today, you might actually mean some of that."

Hermes appeared just then. "My queen, the others are waiting in the banquet hall as you requested."

"Thank you Hermes." Hera turned to Bob slipping her arm through his left one as she waved Cassandra to Bob's right arm. "My child, you never had the chance to take your rightful place here on Olympus. But you still are an Olympian, and for better or worse, that thing on the wall is still your father. I would ask that you join us. I assure you, your voice will be heard the same as any other Olympian."

Cassandra leaned past Bob giving Hera a kiss on the cheek. "I would be honored to assist the queen of Olympus in any way I can. But please, don't call that thing my father. He was nothing more than a sperm donor."

Once everyone was seated in the banquet hall, Bob had Artemis, Hestia, and Demeter explain what had happened to them. He then explained everything he had told Artemis and went on to continue, "what I need from all of you are answers to some questions. First, was Zeus within his rights as king of Olympus to act as he did? If the answer is yes, then I will restore Zeus to his throne with full powers. If the answer is no, then was what he did a simple abuse of power or does it rise to a criminal act? If it's a simple abuse of power, I will censure him for a time then restore him to full power once again. If his actions rise to the level of criminal acts, then what crimes do you say he committed? Let me warn all of you, any action I take, or don't take, as a result of all this will be completely irrevocable. Every decision you make, every step you take, must be unanimous. You all must realize that Zeus's actions affected more than just the three goddesses involved. His actions affected Olympus as a whole, and that affects creation itself. So choose wisely my friends. I'll be in the throne room with Cailin, and Kadir keeping an eye on Zeus until you're finished."

After Bob left, Hera gave Cassandra a quizzical look. "What do you suppose he meant by that last remark?"

Cassandra smiled. "He's hoping we make his job easier and that Olympus remains united no matter how all this turns out."

"Now you're talking in riddles. Can't you give us some clue as to what he really wants?"

"Hera, all he wants from us is the answers to the questions he asked."

A few hours later Hermes came out and told Bob that they had the answers to his questions. He then asked if Zeus could be brought to the banquet hall as well. Hera wanted him to hear the answers directly from her.

Bob replied. "Sure, but I don't feel like chasing his stupid ass." He let Zeus down while placing shackles on his wrists and ankles at the same time. Bob grabbed one of Zeus's arms while Cailin grabbed his other arm. Together, they half carried, half dragged Zeus to the banquet hall while Hermes and Kadir followed shaking their heads in disgust at Zeus's behavior.

When they got to the banquet hall Hera stood walking over to Zeus. She looked at him in silence for a moment then said, "look at you. You really are some piece of work. You don't even have the courage to look at me while I tell you what we decided. Any doubts I may have had about whether or not we made the right choices are gone." She paused for a moment taking a deep breath then continued, "we find, that as king of Olympus,, you were Not within your rights to act as you did. We further find that your actions went way beyond a simple abuse of power. We unanimously find you guilty of the kidnapping and attempted rape of Artemis, Demeter, and Hestia. We ask the Guardian that as part of your punishment, you be permanently removed as our king."

Hera turned to Bob. "Guardian, we think you should know, that as a direct result of Zeus's actions today, Olympus will be abandoned. Every Olympian goddess is asking for your permission to relocate to Neuveia. The memory of what happened will haunt us for eternity and staying here will only make it worse. The remaining gods have already decided to move to various temples scattered across creation."

Bob glanced at Cassandra. Seeing her slight nod he replied, "Hera, you already know my answer. You and the rest of the goddesses are more than welcome on Neuveia. But YOU have to realize you won't be a queen down there."

Hera giggled. "I think Queen Cassandra and I have already covered that little detail. I and the rest of the goddesses have agreed to accept Cassandra as our new queen, and YOU sir, have been drafted as our new king. Even the remaining gods have agreed to accept both of you as their new king and queen.

We've already given Queen Cassandra our pledge of loyalty and obedience. When you've finished with Zeus, we would all like the chance to do the same for you."

Bob heard Cassandra's throaty little giggle and rolled his eyes. "I guess that's settled then. If I've been drafted, I don't have much choice, now do I?"

Just as Bob finished speaking, Destiny appeared. "Hey little brother! Sorry to interrupt. This is some serious shit and I need a few minutes of everyone's time, if that's okay."

"The floor's all yours Sis. I need a break anyway."

"Oh no! You don't get off that easy Bob. Most of what I have to say concerns you. You're absolutely right. This mess falls under your area of responsibility. But mother has taken Zeus's actions as a personal insult. She's asking you to do her a favor and allow her to handle him from here. She also wants to make sure you understand that this is a request, not an order. You are free to decline without any repercussions. If you decide to decline her request, she will understand. She knows you're a man of honor and duty. If you feel you have to do this yourself, so be it. If you decide to grant her this favor, she would like you, Cassandra, Kadir, Cailin, and the Olympians to be there to witness his punishment."

"Know what Sis? I don't have a problem with that at all. If the boss wants to handle his stupid ass, she can have at it. One less thing I have to worry about."

"In that case, I suggest we form a circle around him holding hands. You, Cassandra,Kadir, and Cailin have been there before. You know where to go but the others don't. It's the best way to port everyone there at the same time."

When they got there, Life and the Boss were already waiting for them. The Boss opened a portal and said, "this portal leads to the Void. There's nothing in there right now. But there will be. Zeus, I'm permanently stripping you of all your powers but not your immortality. I am going to give you a sword and a shield and before I toss you in there, I'm gonna fill it with the stuff of nightmares. Creatures whose only purpose will be to devour a part of your body. If you win a battle, you will be given time to rest and recuperate before the next creature attacks. If you lose, you will be given just enough time for your body to regenerate before the next attack. There will be some parts of your body that won't regenerate. But you won't need them in there anyway. Any questions?"

Zeus croaked out, "how long?"

"How long will you be in there? Until creation is no longer affected by your actions today. Which I suspect will probably be for eternity." With that, she waved her hand. Zeus was gone and the portal closed. She looked at Bob. "Thank you for that Captain."

"No problem Boss. I didn't mind at all. The way I see it, you just gave him a taste of his own medicine. But why did you want us all here?"

She gave Bob a quizzical look for a few seconds. "Ah yes, the thing with fire being given to the humans." She laughed then continued, "I didn't think of that at the time Captain. But you're right. It does fit perfectly. One of the reasons I asked you all to be here is because each of you NEEDED to see his punishment for your own private reasons. Let's just leave it at that, shall we? Oh, and since Olympus is being abandoned, creation's laws no longer apply to her temples. If you want I can move them for you now, or you can have Kadir do it for you later."

"I think it can wait until later Boss. I have six goddesses to settle in. I still haven't figured out how I'm gonna manage that. I haven't even started thinking about where to put their temples yet."

"I have a suggestion you might want to consider Captain. Long ago, on Earth, that island group you call home was a single land mass about three quarters the size of Australia called Atlantis. There were only about four hundred Atlantians. They were all that managed to escape when their sun went super nova and took out their planet. They were originally headed for another star system but their anti-matter reactor failed and they crash landed on Earth. The continent broke up and sank when someone screwed up removing the reactor from their ship causing a massive explosion. There were no survivors."

"Wow! That must have been some explosion. But you're right Boss. If we tied some of those islands together, we'd have more than enough room for all six temples with room to spare. That would make things a lot easier in the long run."

"It was a pretty big bang all right and if I hadn't used my power to contain it, we wouldn't be sitting here talking now. There are a couple of other things we need to talk about while you're here Captain. One of them is the real reason I asked you to let me handle Zeus. Olympians are unique beings. They're not just gods and goddesses, they're beings of the light. Meaning that it's supposed to be impossible for them to stray to the darkness.

"Zeus's actions were so unlike a being of the light that they even caught me by surprise. I scanned his mind while Hera was talking to him. What I found angered me so much that I sent Destiny to ask you for that favor. In his mind, I was "that cunt" that allowed Cassandra to escape. Destiny and Life were the "stupid bitches" that fucked up Cassandra's ring and allowed you to have more power than he did in the first place. He was filled with rage at me, Destiny, and Life. He was also extremely jealous of you right from the start.

"He talked Hera into helping him attack Aphrodite hoping you'd show up and try to stop him. He figured, best case, they'd beat you and you'd never fuck with him, worst case, they'd fight you to a draw and again you'd leave him alone. Getting his ass beat by Cassandra shocked him and made him hate you even more. So much so, that he was the one behind the attack on Hera. He knew you'd try to rescue her and was hoping the Djinn could do what he couldn't and destroy you. He was the one who told the Great Caliph about the weakness in the Olympian shields. Even knowing that Hera would be killed wasn't enough to overcome his hatred of you.

"When you had sex with Hera and then impregnated her, he was absolutely livid and if he could have found a way to terminate her pregnancy without you knowing it was him he would have done it in an instant. Athena blowing up at him was the beginning of the end. But the final straw was when you asked him to go home.

"He knew once you found out that he had Artemis, Demeter, and Hestia trapped in his throne room planning to rape and impregnate them, you'd come to their rescue. But he thought his shield would hold you out long enough for him to get the job done. What he didn't know was that the three of them had figured out a way to enhance their shields. By overlapping their shields and rotating them between the three of them, it was almost impossible for a single being to punch through them. That's why Artemis was taunting Zeus. She wanted to keep him focused on her. He would hurl a lighting bolt at Artemis while her own shield was covering her. Then before he could toss another one, she'd be covered by Demeter or Hestia's shield while hers regenerated. Zeus could have fired off lightning bolts forever and not gotten through their combined shields.

"I had little choice as far as Zeus's punishment went. His hatred and jealousy ran so deep that it opened the way for the demon of hatred and terror to enter and control his mind. His spirit and mind were so tainted by the demon that there was nothing left to salvage."

Everyone sat in stunned silence for a minute or so then Hera asked, "are you saying that bastard played us all for fools?"

"Not just all of you Hera. He played me too. Like I said earlier, even I never saw this coming."

Bob spoke up. "I guess he got what he deserved then. You said there were a couple of things we needed to discuss. What else is on your mind Boss?"

"Just a simple matter of damage control Captain. I need every Olympian to give you and Cassandra their pledge of loyalty and obedience, right here, right now, in front of me. So that I can crown you both as their king and queen. Even though you've both been drafted, I'm the only one with the power to make it official. I can't stop some of the damage from today's events from trickling down throughout creation. But giving the Olympians strong leadership from a new king and queen will go a long way towards minimizing it."

One by one, lead by Hera, each Olympian gave their pledges. The Boss created two golden jeweled crowns, placing one on Bob's head the other on Cassandra's while giving each a kiss on the cheek. "My thanks and my congratulations to you both. Once again you've helped me in ways that will be felt throughout creation for eons. Cassandra my child, your leadership during this crisis has been amazing to say the least. I'm very impressed and pleased. Is there anything I can do to reward you?"

"I'm glad that you feel that way Boss. But I was only doing my duty to support my king and my husband. The only reward that I will ever need is sitting here beside me. I thank you for your kind offer but there's nothing else that I need or want."