Previously on Soul Desire:
A fit of laughter seized Iolaus. Hercules couldn't help but to join in.
"Could have been worse," Hercules said after a moment. "They turned me into a pig for two episodes." He pointed to Lois' car. "Look. There they are."
They followed as Lois pulled her Jeep from the curb and guided the vehicle to Hyperion Avenue, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts.
*********
In no time at all, both cars pulled up to the Kents' townhouse on Hyperion Avenue. Hercules threw his convertible into park, showed his passengers how to open their doors, and locked his vehicle.
"Not bad," Xena said, eyeing the car. "Maybe not as much fun as going full gallop on a good horse, but not bad."
Hercules chuckled. "Too bad we don't have time to open her up on the highway. You might change your mind then."
Lois and Clark were already at the door, unlocking it and holding the door open for their guests. They stepped over the threshold, Iolaus' eyes going wide. Clark figured that the house must look like a palace to the man. He'd seen how simple the houses and inns in ancient Greece had been. Xena and Gabrielle took it all in stride. The place looked almost the same as the last time that they had been there, when they had travelled into the future to return Lois and Clark to their own time using the Chronos Stone. Xena noted a few changes; photos of Lois and Clark's children hung on the walls now and a few scattered toys littered the living room floor.
"Make yourself at home," Lois said, gesturing to the living room couches.
Iolaus made his way to one of the couches and picked up a stuffed horse. "Hey, Xena, this kind of looks like Argo."
Xena smiled. "It sure does."
"I'll run out and get us some dinner," Clark offered, glancing at the clock.
Iolaus' face brightened. "Excellent! I always think better on a full stomach. Just no possum stew. Doesn't sit right with me." His hand briefly covered his stomach in emphasis.
"That...won't be a problem," Clark assured him, stifling an amused smile.
He paused and thought for a moment. What could he possibly pick up that the three ancient Greeks, unfamiliar with the modern world, might like? A small smile ghosted over his lips as a thought occurred to him. Hero sandwiches for a band of heroes, he decided.
"I think I've got just the thing," he said.
He spun into his super disguise, deciding that it would just be faster to fly across town to his favorite sandwich shop. Hercules' and Iolaus' jaws both dropped. Xena and Gabrielle looked suitably impressed, but not shocked. They both clearly remembered seeing him do the same thing when he'd flown off to return Tempus to the Metropolis Institute For The Criminally Insane at the end of their last adventure together.
"I'll be right back," he promised, then crossed the room to the window. He stopped at the windowsill, frowning. "Hey, Iolaus, mind tossing me that horse?" he asked after a second. "Rebecca's going to flip out when she realizes that she left it here."
Iolaus tossed the stuffed animal at Clark in an easy, underhand pitch. Clark caught the toy and tucked it under one arm. Pushing aside the curtains, he took off like a shot, making it impossible for any onlookers to have seen him. A sonic boom rang out, the only evidence of his passing.
"Holy Hera," Iolaus gaped, falling back into the couch cushions.
Even Hercules' jaw dropped, though he'd seen plenty of news footage that showed Superman zipping off into the sky. There was simply no comparison for seeing it happen in real time though.
"I'm just going to change really quickly," Lois said, slipping out of her heels. She turned on a couple of lamps in the room, now that the sun was nearly set.
Xena, Gabrielle, and Iolaus all took an immediate fascination with the flameless light source. Iolaus poked at the bulb with a cautious finger.
"Wow," he said, marveling that he hadn't burnt his finger. "The future is pretty cool. One of these things would have come in really handy all those times we had to go into deep, dark caves to slay monsters, eh Herc?"
Hercules nodded. "Yes, it would have."
"So, what was the last monster that you fought? The world must still have some, right? Come on. Tell me everything."
Hercules shook his head slowly. "I haven't fought a monster in a couple of thousand years now, Iolaus. There are no more left. Unless you count Hollywood producers. Scariest monsters I've ever faced."
"Worse than the Hydra? The Minotaur? The She-Demon?"
"Worse than all of the monsters you and I faced put together," Hercules said with a wry smile.
"Xena, what are we going to do about Alti? We don't even have our weapons," Gabrielle said.
"I don't know yet. Let's see what Ares finds out about the Stone of Creation." Xena stood and began to move, examining various objects in the room.
"You trust him?" the bard asked.
Xena sighed. "Yes. There was real fear in his eyes when he told us about Dahak. So long as Alti and Dahak are a threat, we can trust Ares to be on our side."
"Do you think that he still carries a torch for you?"
Xena nodded slowly. "Probably. And that gives us another advantage. He won't dare to be tempted to switch sides on us."
"Okay, that's better," Lois said, striding back into the room, dressed in loose yoga pants and a t-shirt.
"Your children are beautiful," Xena said, looking at the most recent family photo to adorn the walls. "I take it that this is the one you were carrying the last time we met." She pointed to the image of Michael as he stood next to Clark. "He looks just like Clark."
"You knew?" Lois asked. "How? Why didn't you tell me that you knew?"
Xena smiled conspiratorially. "Remember how you spent the entire voyage to Rome throwing up over the ship's railing?"
"How could I forget?"
"I showed you the pressure points in your wrists to alleviate sea sickness."
"I remember," Lois nodded. "I thought I was doing it wrong. And I was convinced that the voyage was going to kill me."
Xena chuckled. "At first, I thought that you were doing it incorrectly too. So I watched you do it a number of times, from a distance. You were doing it properly. That's when I realized. I've only ever seen that technique fail when a woman is experiencing pregnancy sickness. Since you didn't mention being pregnant, I held my tongue. I wasn't sure if you knew yet yourself, and I didn't want to add more stress to you while you were worrying about saving Clark."
Lois nodded thoughtfully.
A second later, a familiar whoosh was heard as Clark alighted in the living room. The stuffed horse was gone. Instead, he held a couple of brown bags in his arms, each one packed to the brim with food. Each one had the name "Tony's" written in a fancy script in red ink on the side. Clark placed the bags down on the dining room table.
"Mom and dad say hi. So do the kids. Michael and Hunter wanted you to know that they finished their homework. You know, I think Michael's speed might be coming in. He kind of...dashed...into the room when I got there. And he said that he wrote a five page paper by hand in twenty minutes. Rebecca was thrilled to have her toy brought over," he said to Lois. "You can unpack this stuff. I'll get some drinks from the kitchen."
He sauntered off to the kitchen. A few minutes later, he reappeared dressed in jeans and a Bills shirt, holding a tray of glasses and an assortment of drinks. Lois was already unloading the take out onto various dishes. A variety of hot and cold sandwiches, potato and macaroni salads, a tin of regular garden salad, and a few different containers of dressings covered the middle of the table. A box of cookies and another box of mini brownies joined the rest. Clark gave everyone a glass and began to pour the drinks.
"Any mead?" Iolaus asked.
"Uh, not exactly," Clark said.
"Ale?"
Clark shook his head. "Sorry."
"Nah, that's fine. What's that stuff?" He pointed to the pitcher of dark liquid on the table.
"Iced tea," Clark said.
Iolaus shrugged. "Never heard of it, but I'm game."
Clark poured him a glassful. Hercules went for the Cherry Pepsi, as did Clark. Gabrielle and Xena both stuck to ice water. Lois went for her old standby of cream soda. Clark identified each of the sandwiches for the ancient heroes, choosing an Italian sub for himself. Iolaus went for the chicken parmesan hero. His eyes lit up at the first bite.
"Gods above! This is incredible!" he exclaimed, his mouth half full. He swallowed hard. "You know, there's food on the other side, but nothing as satisfying as the food on this side." He took another large bite, grinning as he chewed.
Xena and Gabrielle talked lightly with Lois and Clark as they ate, asking them how they were doing since they last had seen them. Gabrielle quickly told Hercules and Iolaus the story surrounding their last encounter with the two reporters. By the time that they had finished eating, Iolaus had polished off a sandwich and a half, plus generous helpings of the potato and macaroni salads. Clark was impressed that the short, well built, and in-shape man could pack away so much food.
They studiously avoided the topics of Alti and Dahak for most of the night, though the heroes did offer Lois and Clark a few details on the two when the conversation circled around to them a couple of times. After dinner, they moved back into the living room, uncertain of what to do. None of them felt like sitting still. They were all men and women of action. Sitting and waiting, perhaps for Alti to make the first move, had their nerves on edge. Xena was especially agitated. Without her weapons, she felt like a part of her own body was missing. She was more than capable of fighting without a blade, but she missed the comforting feel of steel in her hands, and said as much whenever anyone mentioned it.
"Do you think Alti is in Metropolis?" Gabrielle asked finally, shattering the uncomfortable silence that had blanketed the room, and voicing the question that was on all of their minds.
"She must be. Ares wouldn't have come to us yet if she wasn't close by," Hercules said.
"Ares had better find out about that stone soon," Xena said, settling down on the floor next to the demigod.
"There's got to be a way of knowing for sure," Iolaus said, drumming his fingers on the arm of the couch.
"I'd go out and make a quick sweep of the city," Clark said with a shrug, "but I don't have any idea of what I'm looking for."
"Chaos would be a good starting point," Xena said dryly. "Unless she's learned the art of subtlety after all these years. I doubt that though."
"Well, let's see what LNN has to say," Clark suggested. He picked up the remote control and flipped the television set on.
All eyes were riveted on the appliance. Xena, Gabrielle, and Iolaus exchanged an uneasy look.
"What sort of spell is on that thing?" Gabrielle asked warily.
"Spell?" Lois asked.
"The...people. How...?"
Clark chuckled quietly. "It's not a spell or anything insidious," he assured her. "There's no actual people in there. Just images of people. Like a bunch of paintings looked at really fast so that they seem to move."
Gabrielle nodded, but the action looked forced. Her brows were crinkled in puzzlement.
Clark kept skimming through the channels until he landed on LNN. The news was just starting to repeat on a loop. For a long while, they sat in silence, watching for any sign of trouble that would indicate that Alti was in the neighborhood. They saw the coverage of a couple of Clark's rescues that day; a car fire in front of the Daily Planet and a man who'd wanted to commit suicide by jumping from the Metropolis Bridge. Nothing seemed to point to the shamaness. Eventually, the anchors began to cover the international news. Clark turned the sound down. He didn't need it very high to hear it after all.
"Can get anyone some coffee? Tea? Dessert?" he offered.
"Sure," Hercules replied. "Coffee would be great. Need a hand?"
"No thanks. We've got it," Lois said, waving Hercules back down as he started to rise.
Lois stood along with Clark. Together, they made their way to the kitchen. Clark switched the coffee maker on and leaned heavily against the island in the center of the room. He looked completely lost and bothered.
"You okay?" Lois asked, moving to his side and wrapping her arms about his waist, trying to comfort him.
"Yeah," he said. "I'm just a little worried, that's all. I mean, no one has said anything, but there must be a reason why the gods sent four heroes to fight this Alti person. And I hate not being able to just go out there and take care of the problem."
"I know," Lois said, giving his body a comforting squeeze. "I don't like it either. But I trust Xena and Gabrielle. They've already proven to me that they can handle just about anything. I would have lost you if not for them. And I'm starting to trust Hercules and Iolaus too. If Hercules defeated this evil god in the past, he can do it again."
Clark wrapped his arms around her. "I trust them too. And thanks," he murmured into her hair as he planted a kiss on her head. He sighed. "Just how does a person protect their soul anyway?" he mused.
Lois looked up at him. "They get religion?" she joked weakly.
Clark chuckled lightly but distractedly. "Very funny. Look, Lois...maybe...maybe it's not such a good idea for you to be in Metropolis until this all blows over. Who's to say that this Alti won't go after you too? I don't want to risk it. Take the kids and go somewhere."
Lois shook her head defiantly. "After all these years, do you really think I'd let you face this alone? I'm staying."
"Lois, this isn't like the other dangers that we've faced," he protested. "This isn't some psycho with a gun, or cyborg, or a woman who shrinks people, or evil Kryptonian with an attitude problem."
"So? What's your point?" She crossed her arms over her chest.
"The point is, I don't know how to protect you this time," Clark said pleadingly.
"Nice try, but I'm not letting you do this by yourself. End of discussion." Her voice held a note of finality to it.
Clark knew the tone well. Unless he tied her up and flew her off to some secure location, there would be no keeping Lois away. And even if he did, she'd find a way to get back. Motherhood had definitely not softened her Mad Dog Lane side. And right now, Mad Dog Lane was firmly in control.
"All right," he said, throwing his hands up in surrender. "You win."
Lois kissed him gently on the lips and patted his cheek affectionately. "I always do."
She flashed him a smile, then pulled out of his embrace to pour the coffee. Clark grabbed the rest of the items that they needed, then took the tray from the counter. They reentered the living room to find Xena and Hercules deep in discussion. Gabrielle and Iolaus were sitting in companionable silence, watching the images on LNN.
Clark set his tray on the coffee table and took his seat on the second couch, across from Gabrielle and Iolaus.
"Coffee's up," he said, still somewhat distractedly. Lois might have won the discussion in the kitchen, but that didn't mean that Clark was happy about it. Far from it.
Thanks," Hercules said. He glanced at the other Greeks. "Uh, why don't I fix your drinks for you?" he offered.
For Iolaus and himself, Hercules left the coffee black. For Gabrielle, he added a touch of milk. For Xena, he added three teaspoons of sugar. Each of them took a tentative sip. Gabrielle frowned slightly, trying to decide if she liked it or not. She followed Hercules' example and added half a spoonful of sugar. She took another sip, then smiled. Clark watched it all as he fixed Lois' coffee and then his own. He threw a quick glance at the television, but LNN had switched over to entertainment news. A critique of Courtney Cox's outfit while at a recent red carpet event was not going to help them at all. Not knowing what to say, he bit into a chocolate chip cookie and chewed thoughtfully.
"So, I guess the next thing we need to figure out is sleeping arrangements," Lois said, holding her mug in both hands.
"I can take them back to my hotel," Hercules offered.
Lois shook her head. "There's got to be some sort of safety in numbers. What if this Alti finds out where to find Clark? No, I think I'd feel better if you all stayed here."
"I don't know," Hercules said. "We've imposed enough here today."
"You aren't imposing. And I won't hear of you leaving."
"We'll be fine on the floor," Xena said. "All four of us are used to roughing it. Well, maybe Hercules has forgotten what it's like." She grinned playfully at the demigod, elbowing him lightly in the ribs.
"Hey, I go camping when I can!" he shot back, feigning hurt, his hand over his heart.
"Well, let me at least see if I can find some air mattresses or something," Clark said. He took out his phone, intending to run a search through the local stores.
"That's not necessary. Xena and Gabrielle can take the couches. Iolaus and I will take the floor. We've slept in places a lot less comfortable."
Iolaus nodded his confirmation.
"I really can't...," Clark started to protest.
"It's fine, trust us," Iolaus said. "No rocks, no one going to attack us in the middle of the night, no chance of waking up to a sudden downpour...this is like paradise!"
A look at Iolaus' face told Clark that this was another argument he wasn't going to win. The old saying of "batting a thousand" came unbidden to his mind and he choked back a resigned laugh.
"Okay," he relented. "At least let me see what I can do about sheets and pillows."
He drained the last of his coffee and then went up the stairs. Ten minutes later, he came back down, a large bundle of sheets and a couple of pillows in his arms. He set them off to one side for the time being. They passed the rest of the night in companionable conversation. Twice, Clark had to slip out when he heard cries for help, once to stop a mugging and once to help a driver whose brakes failed as he was driving on a winding cliff road outside of the city limits.
At last, everyone was ready to turn in for the night. Lois and Clark made up the couches and tried to make the floor as comfortable as possible. Clark noticed that Xena had gone missing as they worked. On a hunch, he went out the back into the small yard that they owned. He found her leaning against the house, quietly looking up at the sky. She turned as soon as she heard the door opening as he came outside.
"Am I interrupting?" he asked.
"No, not at all."
"Everything okay?"
Xena sighed. "Everything's fine. It's just...I was remembering something that a friend once told me."
"Oh. Care to share? Or too private?"
"I don't mind sharing. You see, Hades' helmet of invisibility had been stolen by a very evil man, who used it to slip out of the Underworld and back to the world of the living. My friend, Marcus, had been given back his life for a day or two to help me as we tracked down the helmet. When we camped that night, he couldn't stop staring at the sky. He said that you never realize all of the things that you take for granted until you don't have them anymore. Like the sky and the evening air. I understood a little of what he was saying back then, but never quite the extent of it. Until today when Hades pulled me back to life. Seeing Gabrielle...and Hercules and Iolaus...it just sort of hammered home how much I've missed them, you know? And experiencing life again, I see how strange your world is compared to the one I knew, but there's so much that has stayed the same. The sky, the moon, the satisfaction of a hot meal. I know that I did the right thing, choosing to stay dead in Japan when Gabrielle had the chance to bring me back. I had to guard those souls from further evil. But I still can't help second guessing how easily I chose to reject another chance at life." She shrugged, clearly embarrassed at having bared her soul so easily. "I'll be fine. Thanks for listening."
Clark sighed. When he spoke, his voice was soft, barely above a whisper. "Xena, you know that I would do anything in my power to help you and the others...stay alive after all of this is over. I owe you more than I can say. When we first met, you had no reason to trust me or Lois. You had no obligation to help us. But you did. In doing so, you kept Lois and my son out of harm's way. And you saved my life, not once, but twice. First in the arena, and then again from the poison that was slowly killing me. If there was any way that I could make Hades give you, Gabrielle, and Iolaus a second chance at life, I wouldn't hesitate."
Xena touched his arm lightly and a genuine smile crossed her lips. "I know that you would. But, I guess going to the Elysian Fields won't be such a bad thing. Gabrielle and Iolaus will be there to keep me company. And it'll be nice to be reunited with my son. Come on, let's go back in before the rest wonder what happened to us."
"After you," Clark said, opening the door for her.
A little while later, Clark emerged from the shower and slipped into bed alongside Lois. Lois snuggled up to his warm body, running her hand over his bare chest. Clark brought his arm around her body, pulling her closer. Lois rested her head against his chest and his chin rested on the top of her head. Neither of them spoke; there was nothing to say that they hadn't already said that day. But they both had their thoughts on their current foe. And with the kids not home, the house was eerily quiet, dispute the four heroes that were camped out in their living room. It was a long while before either of them slept.
To Be Continued...
