::Morning came quickly on Mount Olympus and the light from Apollo's sun-chariot slowly spread thoughout the land. The rays found their way through a crack in the fabric covering the bedroom window of Hermes' home and made its way up the side of the bed and right into Hermes' face. The blue God wrinkled his nose and frowned and absently pushed at the light as if the very action would make it go away.

"Hermes, get up already. You're going to be late for work."

He frowned more as his wife's voice reached his ears and registered in his brain. She wasn't angry and there was nothing sweeter to him then to hear her soft voice, but right now all he wanted to do was sleep and stay in the warm, soft comfort of their bed. Reaching out blindly he grabbed for a pillow and shoved it over his face to block out the sun and anything else that tried to wake him.

Megara watched him and sighed, shaking her head. She stepped closer to the bed and pulled the pillow from his grasp and tossed it to the side. She then reached for his glasses which were resting on the end table and sat down on the bed and pushed his thin shoulders. "Hermes come on, the faster you do your message runs the faster you can come home."

Hermes groaned and was about to pull the covers over his head when he remembered the little chat he had with Hades yesterday and the task he was supposed to fulfill today. His midnight blue eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright on the bed and groped eagerly for his glasses.

Meg poked him and he looked up at her blurry image. "Looking for these?" she asked and shoved the purple lensed glasses into his hand.

He smiled broadly and put his round spectacles on and chuckled as the world around him came into focus. "What would I do without you, babe?" he asked and leaned forward to give her a kiss.

She smiled gently and then got playfully stern with him. "What would you do without your job? Get moving, cutie, or Zeus will zap you for lagging. Remember the last time?"

The little deity shuddered as he remembered getting his backend singed with a lightning bolt because he was being pokey. Not that it hurt him, it just upset him that his toga had a big burn mark on the seat of it. Nodding slowly, Hermes stretched and pushed his thin body off the bed and stretched again. He then sat on the floor and pulled his winged boots on and quickly flew up and into the wash area to get himself cleaned and ready for his busy day.

After a few minutes he returned to the bedroom and headed towards his keyboards where he kept his winged helmet and Caduceus. After he readied his gear, he swiftly flew towards his wife and lightly kissed her on the cheek. "Like, catch you later, babe. Keep Seth out of my sheet music this time, you dig?"

"Hermes, you should be glad our son is interested in your music," she responded with a smirk.

"Yeah, but not when the music is in his mouth! I don't think we should have named him Seth...Philoctetes is more like it. Hmmm...maybe my genes have goat in them or something. Hey, like Messenger GOAT, like BAAAAAAA to you, babe!" Hermes put his hands on his head and made his fingers stick up like horns as he laughed loudly.

Meg groaned and shoved his shoulders, "Go to work you baaaaaaaad boy." She tried her hardest not to laugh because she knew it would just encourage him, but she lost the battle and had to giggle behind her hand.

Hermes beamed and suddenly composed himself, "Gone, babe!" he cried and in the blink of an eye he was far from the house and on his way to the palace of Zeus to collect the days messages. He knew that the faster he completed his work the sooner he could carry on his task for Hades. There was actually no real hurry in the plan, but since he suggested in doing the deed today, the little messenger had to complete it and Hermes wasn't one to go back on his word.

Hours later the blue God finished his deliveries and was found sitting on a Pagoda rooftop chowing down on some Chinese food his close friend, Mr. Wang, prepared for him. He had to get as much energy in him if he wanted his deed of eliminating Hercules from this day and age to work without a hitch. Swallowing the last bite of an eggroll, Hermes flew down and dropped the now empty little basket the food came in on the back stoop of the restaraunt and took off back to Greece, an anxious smirk on his face.

He returned to his homeland in a matter of minutes and headed towards the villa Hercules resided in. Hermes hovered behind a wall well out of view so he could begin to prepare himself and think of how he was going to lure the hero out and to the area he planned on springing Hades' trap. He rubbed his chin and smiled cunningly as an idea popped effortlessly into his head.

Removing his helmet, he ran his hand quickly through the hair on the back of his head and messed it all up. He then shoved the helmet back on crookedly and bent down to grab a handful of dirt and smeared it on his toga. Taking a deep breath, Hermes bolted out of his hiding place and flew erratically towards the house to search for Hercules.

"Oh oh oh, like, I need help, man! Herc, you home?" he cried as he flew rapidly around the outside perimeter of the house. "This is not cool, Herc, Phil anybody! I need some help!"

Hermes was just about to round the corner of the house when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye bringing him to an immediate stop. He hovered in place, his chest heaving in an exaggerated manner to make him look more aggitated then he really was.

"Hermes wait!" the young hero called out while running towards the little God, his satyr friend, Philoctetes, trotting way behind him trying to catch up. Hermes just smirked to himself and waited for them to reach him before he started acting panicked once more.

"There you are!" Hermes panted and put a shakey hand on Hercules' shoulder. "Please, you gotta help me!"

"Calm down you Greek geek, you're just babbling. What exactly do you need help with?" Phil questioned making Hermes wish he could smack the goat-man in the head with his Caduceus, but he had to keep his mind on Hercules and the task at hand.

Ignoring Phil's comment, Hermes looked at Hercules and frowned, "Like, Hades got Meg, man. I don't know how he managed it, but you know I'm no match for him. Like, he got her from me and knocked me to the ground and said to consider this his revenge on you, but I don't know how he could even think that! Oh, this is too awful!"

The hero gritted his teeth upon hearing Hermes' "tragic" tale and he balled his hands into fists. "You think that guy would learn to leave her alone, especially since she's a Goddess now. I'll help, just lead the way!"

Hermes blinked behind his purple lensed glasses. Hercules, you really are a fool to rush off into something you don't know anything about, he thought to himself and shook his head. Taking a deep breath, he flew backwards and beckoned to Herc. "Like, follow me, man, I'll try my best not to go too fast. If we get separated, meet me at the tree near the river, like, that's where it all happened."

With that the little blue God took off like a shot knowing full well that neither Hercules or anyone else for that matter could keep up with him. He needed distance to set Hades' trap up and to do it without being seen. Hermes headed for the tree he mentioned to the hero and he flew up into its branches and sat down, panting from the flight and from his excitement.

He looked back to where he left Hercules' villa and figured the demi-god would be on his way in a matter of minutes so he had to act fast. Waving his hand in the air he made the silver box appear that Hades had given him yesterday. A smirk etched its way across his face as he looked at it, amazed over what it could do and what he was about to do with it.

Leaping from the branch, Hermes hovered in a good position to toss the box at Hercules, but as he looked around he saw that there were too many branches obstructing the way down and that just wouldn't do. The blue God looked around and saw a spot that would be ideal. He flew towards the area, but in his eagerness to carry out his mission, he bumped into a branch and the silver box slipped from his grasp.

Too stunned to move, Hermes flinched and covered up his face with his arms waiting for the impending blast of white light Hades spoke of when the box would hit the ground, but nothing happened. Puzzled, Hermes slowly peeked from behind his arm and tried to see where the box went to and more importantly he tried to figure out why it didn't detonate. Spotting the box wedged between the branches, Hermes flew cautiously towards it and picked it up.

"What's with you, you nutty thing?" he mumbled and shook it angrily. "Man, it figures that Hades would give me a busted gizmo here. Like, it's a good thing that Herc wasn't here. It'd be totally embarrassing to expl--" but he never finished his sentance for the little box finally did it's job, though at the wrong time and to the wrong person. There was a brilliant flash of light that expanded outwards about five feet in circumference and as quickly as it came it was gone and with it went Hermes.::