Hercules Unbound #11

At an old automobile factory in Detroit, Michigan, the Atomic Knights have just finished forging a new suit of armor for Hercules. The molten alloy begins to burn through one of the aged vats, imperiling Hercules and his companions, Kevin, Jennifer, and their dog, Basil. Hercules presses a girder up against the vat to keep it level. Unfortunately, Hercules’ irrepressible strength proves too much for the rusted foundry’s infrastructure. The factory begins to collapse down upon the small band of adventurers. After a narrow escape, the group board an aircraft, called “The Flying Wing”, and provide the two Atomic Knights with transportation back to Knight’s Headquarters, on the west bank of Lake Ontario. Approaching the landing strip, Kevin, begins piloting the Flying Wing through a series of insane maneuvers. Astonishingly, Kevin suddenly blasts a hole in the aircraft. The sudden cabin decompression sucks the Atomic Knights out through the hole. Using a roll of electrical cable, Hercules manages to lasso the Atomic Knights, long before they can hit the ground. Hercules then swings the cables out over Lake Ontario, and releases the Atomic Knights into the water. Hercules, however, is also pitched out of the Flying Wing, due to Kevin’s erratic piloting. The power controlling Kevin grows exponentially, allowing him create missiles and missile launchers on the Flying Wing, where once there were none. Once fully armed, Kevin begins strafing the Knight’s headquarters. Hercules survives the long fall to the ground. Witnessing Kevin’s aerial assault on Knight’s Headquarters, Hercules leaps to the opposite side of Lake Ontario, in a single bound. Timing his maneuver perfectly, Hercules hurls a mountainous boulder into Lake Ontario, creating a spectacular splash that deluges the Flying Wing, shorting out it’s electrical systems, and forcing the craft to the ground.

From Mount Olympus, the Olympian Gods watch as Hercules recovers his companions from the wreckage of the Flying Wing. A temporal storm has made the Olympian Gods prisoners in their home, but by pooling their power together they manage to send a warning to Hercules, regarding the emergence of the Anti-Gods. Kevin awakes to find himself in chains. Though Hercules knows that the possessed Kevin was not responsible for his actions, the Demi-God chooses to take no chances with Kevin. The Olympian God’s warning arrives, as Jennifer is suddenly possessed by the Goddess, Athena. Before Athena can finish detailing the threat to Hercules, an enormous dragon coalesces out of the group’s campfire. The dragon bellows fire at Hercules and his companions. Immediately the Atomic Knight’s armor begins to melt. Hercules shields Jennifer with his own body, then engages the dragon. A mighty sweep of it’s tail sends Hercules flying backwards. Hercules begins pulverizing boulders, smothering the flaming dragon in the rock dust. Despite his heroic efforts, however, Jennifer was killed in the initial attack. Believing the threat that Athena warned of to be vanquished, Hercules breaks Kevin’s chains. A funeral service is held for Jennifer. Kevin is once again possessed by a strange force, and races to the Flying Wing. Hercules is just able to leap aboard, before Kevin can ascend too high. Kevin crashes the Flying Wing into the Mediterranean Sea. Hercules pulls the unconscious boy from the wreckage, and makes for the shore. Upon the shore, Hercules sees the rock he spent eons chained against. It was here that he first met Kevin. As Hercules turns to regard the unconscious form of his young companion, he is, instead, greeted by the visage of Ares, the God of War. Kevin, it seems, has merely been a mask for the bellicose deity. It is here, on the rock that once held a Demi-God, that Ares will release the Anti-Gods.