KAS Bellerophon

Name: Bellerophon, (Beh-lero-fon)
Alias’s: The Frozen Fury, Abomination (Atlantis), The Butcher (Amazonia), ‘Justice’ (Kronos)
Factions: Hyperborea
Alignment: Lawful Neutral/Chaotic Evil (depending on who is in control)
Kaiju Rank: 5
Height: 40 Meters at the shoulder, 60 at the head (Bellerophon’s)
Length: 80 Meters long
Wingspan: 150 Meters
Weight: 55,000 Tons
Land Speed: 270 MPH
Air Speed: Mach 3

Powers:

I Taunt At Thee-
Bellerophon has a knack for verbal sparring and can belittle, humiliate or enrage his opponent at his discretion. While he was active he was notorious for using Hyperborean propaganda and his own insights and research to get under his opponent’s skin. Being able to look down on his foes most of the time simply made the exchanges that much more brutal and upsetting. Creature’s with enough mental or personal clout can brush off or even counter Bellerophon’s insults and those that have no mind wouldn’t care to begin with. However those that are of ‘normal’ intelligence and have been thoroughly investigated by Bellerophon can find themselves mortified or irrationally aggressive due to his domineeringly dialogue.

Instant Take Off-
Retaining the ability from Pegasus, Bellerophon can instantly shoot himself into the air through a combination of his lighter weight and a personal form of aerokinesis. He does not have to take a running start though doing so enables him to take off a greater speed and a specific direction. He can use this skill to avoid sudden attacks or hazards.

Pulping Kicks-
Retaining the ability from Pegasus, Bellerophon uses his legs and deadly hooves to pummel his opponents into a bloody smear. His legs strike with enough force to shatter bones and hemorrhage entire sections of muscle tissue, leaving a pile of gore for him to pick over later. He can strike quickly and repeatedly as well as buck to strike those coming from behind him. A strike to the head can knock most kaiju of his rank or a rank lower unconscious. Ranks 3-1 suffer fatal head trauma if their anatomy depends on their head being intact.

Boreas Spear-
Bellerophon’s primary weapon is a massive spear that generates a localized, radioactive ice crystal at its tip. The crystal kept stable and active via the lead core inside. The ancient enigma based tech produces a freezing edge that is the bane of liquid, plant, or heat based monsters. It can produce either a ‘surge’ or a ‘pulse’ which allows it to flash freeze a single target and generate a trail of razor sharp ice formations respectively. The crystal itself is surprisingly durable, capable of regenerating and reforming itself when pieces of it are lost or left behind in a target. As long as the lead core remains undamaged and intact, the spear will continue to produce a deadly, spear tip of diamond sharp ice crystal. The weapon gives Bellerophon a large reach being 65 meters long in and of its self.

Blizzard Bringer-
Channeling the energy from his cores and using the spear as a focus, Bellerophon was able to turn Pegasus’s hail storm into an overwhelming blizzard. The attack covers a wide range and can quickly bury a monster if they are caught within the affected area. Bellerophon normally uses this attack while airborne as to use the wings to beat the freezing winds that much harder. This attack can severely hamper a kaiju’s ability to move and chill them to the bone. As before, its power and scope correlate to the region it’s done in and the amount of moisture in the air though not to the same extent the Hail Storm was.

Ancient Cyborg-
Perhaps the first one of his kind to ever occur, Bellerophon combines the durability and usual features of a Hyperborean Hero Unit with the strength and resilience of a kaiju. The cores on the chest and wings draw energy from the sun to power the stone and metal parts of the creature while also stabilizing the wounded beast beneath it. Like other Hyperborean Golems, it repairs itself slowly, using materials taken from its environment to do so and unable to completely regenerate a limb unless it is replaced entirely. For its part, Pegasus remains a powerful foundation and its sheer muscle mass allows to hold up the armor while still being able to fly; the parts of Bellerophon that are Pegasus regenerate at a steady rate though due to a lack of enigma laden sustenance, it is kept from growing any bigger and scar tissue remains from the process that created Bellerophon. Both sides of the construct cannot live/function without the other now and if they were separated it’s likely that they would die/become inoperable without immediate medical assistance and enigma therapy. The two work in a bizarre form of symbiosis that stabilizes one if the other is too severely damaged. If one personality falls dormant, the other will rise to take control.

Monster Slayer-
Something retained from Bellerophon’s days as an enigma sensitive man. Bellerophon can pick up a monster’s weaknesses and habits quickly, allowing him to strike critical blows where they count or given some time, prepare an appropriate method of destruction.

Weaknesses:

Arrogant, Tactless, and Honest-
Bellerophon was once a quiet man who refused to lie and was rather blunt. Upon becoming a Hyperborean Hero Unit, the ‘refusing to lie and being rather blunt’ aspect of his personality remained but the quiet part did not; especially after subconsciously crossing the moral event horizon in the conflict with Amazonia. Bellerophon does not go out of his way to make himself likeable and puts a great deal of effort into coming off as a conceited douchebag in order to hide his own inner conflicts. This makes working with him difficult. His penchant for always telling the truth means he can say things that sometimes undo himself or others which just hammers the unlikeable persona he builds up that much harder. Bellerophon also tends to get sucker punched if he doesn’t take his opponent seriously.

Personal Horse Demon-
Pegasus is still very much awake, right beneath Bellerophon in every sense of the word. The blood thirsty monster is constantly taunting, raging, or tempting Bellerophon into letting him have control or just flat out releasing him. This creates a great deal of tension for Bellerophon who honestly just wants to follow orders, do a good job and live happily. It always takes a measure of Bellerophon’s effort to keep the flying horse bird from going berserk and if the two don’t see eye to eye on something, it can send Bellerophon into a psychotic break down or twitching convulsions that leave him helpless…or losing entirely and letting Pegasus kill and destroy everything around him until he gets his hands on the ‘reins’ again. The bit that keeps Pegasus from biting down all the way and keeps its head partly tucked also works as sort of kill switch should it be removed willingly or otherwise.

Fire Vs Ice-
Most of Bellerophon’s abilities are cold based. If brought against a force or source of overwhelming heat (like Chimera’s fire), it can potentially melt the alloy of his armor and disable his spear. If the lead core is melted, it will disable the spear permanently until it is repaired.

Personality:
Bellerophon can be described as a mentally disturbed and tragic man riding an even more mentally disturbed and outright demonic flying horse; his hands on the reins being the only thing that keeps the more feral and blood thirsty personality from rampaging and perhaps killing them both in its self loathing rage. Bellerophon has largely given up on social relationships outside of work related matters and keeps to himself as to avoid setting Pegasus off as much as possible. The multiple betrayals and near assassinations attempts throughout his life have left Bellerophon cynical and paranoid of everyone which he expresses as grandiose and overly dramatic self importance to cover himself. He purposely pushes other people away from him in fear of Pegasus using the connections against him and signaling them out for brutality; the exception perhaps being other Hyperborean Hero Units who are largely capable of defending themselves. The areal colossus carries a great vendetta against kaiju and monsters in general, throwing his anger and self loathing into killing them, as what amounts to the one thing he considers himself truly gifted at. Pegasus oddly enough meets him half way on this point as he’s been fighting and eating other monsters since the day he mutated. It’s during the elimination of other kaiju that both personalities within Bellerophon synchronize and produce a ruthless and ice cold killing machine that is remembered to this day as being one of the many scourges of Atlantis.


History:
The Great Hero Bellerophon…alongside Cadmus and Perseus was said to be the foremost slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. The rider of the legendary Pegasus, the slayer of the dreaded Chimera, one who escaped death at every turn only to fall to a flaw all his own: hubris.

Depending on whom you asked Bellerophon was either a titanic braggart, deplorable insult to all things sacred and a terrible person or a regal symbol of justice and retribution….as well as a terrible person. Very few during that ancient time knew the real Bellerophon and the endless river of mixed fortune that tossed him about in its currents. For ultimately Bellerophon was a hero of circumstance and one the fates never did tire of toying with…

The boy who would be Bellerophon was born into a family of Hyperborean city state nobles. His status as an enigma sensitive was unknown and misunderstood and so hardly anyone knew about it until it was too late. In his teens the boy accidently drowned his own brother Deliades when the younger sibling attempted to get rid of him in order to secure his inheritance. Bellerophon only realized the shadowy enemy that attacked him during his nightly swim was his brother after turning him over. Rather than deal with the scandal, his father Glaucus the first sent him away from Corinth to the court of Proetus the king of Tiryn as a supplicant. Proetus used his political powers to nullify Bellerophon’s crime so the boy could begin anew. Proetus’s wife Anteia took fancy to Bellerophon and attempted to seduce him, only for Bellerophon bluntly deny her on the grounds of her being a married woman. Scorned and offended, Anteia secretly told her husband that Bellerophon had tried to rape her. Unable to do anything personally to Bellerophon due to him being nobility and a guest (not to mention possibly capable of murder himself), Proetus instead asked Bellerophon to deliver a message to King Iobates of Lycia his father in-law. The aged man was a cordial fellow who feasted with Bellerophon for over a week in order to get to know him before getting to business. Said business was a letter stating:

”Pray remove the bearer from this world; he attempted to violate my wife, your daughter.”

Angry enough to fuel Hades for a year but in deep fear over the Erinyes (a secret service organization under the Titanomachy) killing him for taking his anger out on a guest, Iobates instead sent Bellerophon on a quest he deemed impossible for one man: to dispatch the Solymi. The Solymi were a group of tribesman and notorious headhunters that hunted people for sport and glory. Said to be over eight feet tall and stronger than a lion, the Solymi had been a plague on Lycia’s southern borders. Iobates figured that getting turned into a trophy would be a fitting end for someone who attempted to ravish his daughter and so implored Bellerophon to do this ‘favor’ for him. Bellerophon of course had no idea what was going on and with the idea of atoning for his brother’s death, set out to wipe out the brutal and elusive tribesmen. The most harrowing days of Bellerophon’s life began as he sought them out. The Solymi of course found him first. They toyed with him for days, leading him into traps and wild animal dens as well as attacking him while he slept and then running back into the forest. It came to a head when one of them got impatient and decided to take his head by the river…the man was quickly drowned and Bellerophon began turning the tables on his quarry. Having learned quite a bit from the Solymi inadvertently, Bellerophon relentlessly tracked them down and decapitated every single one of them. When Bellerophon arrived back in Iobates’s court with a whole gunny sack full of Solymi heads, the jolly man turned shade akin to skimmed milk….before recovering his composure and congratulating Bellerophon on a job well done. Despite one problem taken care of…his latest hadn’t solved itself like he hoped and so he continued sending Bellerophon on errands and eventually dangerous missions to slay various mega fauna that popped up. Using his own intuition and skills he had gleaned from the Solymi, Bellerophon wrecked every monster he came across.

This went on for many years with Iobates getting increasingly pissed off at Bellerophon’s refusal to just get himself killed as planned. His next opportunity arrived when a ‘volunteer’ was needed to go capture the deadly kaiju Pegasus. Iobates had originally thought that maybe sending him against Chimaera would be a good idea but the Erinyes agents had warned him against something that suicidal as it would look bad so he was forced to find other quests. This however was a ‘capture’ mission and thus it wasn’t expected to trade lives here…Iobates gambled with his reputation and offered Bellerophon for the task. Bellerophon to this point was wondering if his atonement was over by this point and exactly who was sending those thugs after him every time he left Iobates’s estate. With a muffled hint of paranoia and his usual stoic expression Bellerophon set out to do the impossible.

It was much to everyone’s surprise, especially Iobates’s when Bellerophon arrived not only alive but riding Pegasus to boot! The political scene heated up immensely and thus Iobates was forced to attend to his duties while Bellerophon was given the honor of becoming the areal Hero Unit. A position he accepted as it he was frankly tired of the repeated assassination attempts and figured he could continue doing what he always did. Around the time Kronos and the Muuian leader came to an semi final arrangement and Chiron made his grievances with the idea known, an Erinyes member warned Bellerophon about Iobates’s attempts to murder him as he had been becoming more aggressive as of late in doing so. Bellerophon proceeded to interrogate Iobates regarding his attempted murders and Iobates, somewhat relieved to not have to hide it anymore, produced the letter Bellerophon had handed him years ago. Bellerophon couldn’t believe what was written but quickly put two and two together and rather bluntly explained what had really occurred. Iobates was beside himself with embarrassment and offered to make it up to Bellerophon by letting him marry his other daughter Philonoe and giving him half his kingdom with plenty of vineyards and fields. Both parties were satisfied and Bellerophon semi retired from monster hunting while living with his new wife and family.

The process to ready Pegasus for the procedure that would turn him into a foundation for a Hero Unit was long and fraught with setbacks but progress was gradually made. The size measurements were made and things looked in order. Bellerophon often took to watching Pegasus, alongside a certain centaur and the two often had fairly interesting observations and debates regarding the creature. Bellerophon was the only person Chiron bothered to voice his dissent to after his failed attempt to persuade Kronos, trying to see where the human’s conviction in the matter lay. Bellerophon only stated that it would be a chance to kill bigger and more dangerous monsters, making the world a better place for everyone and if anyone had to take that mantle it was him. Eventually seeing that it was useless trying to convince the now middle aged man otherwise, Chiron went forth with his plans to sabotage the project. Bellerophon managed to stall and eventually send the alien into retreat with a well timed release of the acid valves inside the armory. However he was mortally wounded in the process and on the verge of death. Pegasus was likewise ruined as his feathers and his softer tissues had suffered horribly under the acid despite his raging adrenaline. The creature could no longer fly under its own power and its breathing was haggard and full of blood. It was blind and if not for the enigma braziers keeping it calm it might have gone either totally berserk or into state of shock. Normally facing such horrible odds Pegasus would have found a source of enigma rich flesh and began eating just as it always had. Hyperborea had no intentions of giving it ammunition to grow any larger and thus was stuck with two half dead individuals. Kronos was beyond enraged and even after Heracles had ‘dealt’ with the alien traitor, Kronos still cursed his situation. The Muuian leader insisted that the project was salvageable and that with a little assistance from the kaiju minded experts from Lemuria, perhaps the beast itself was salvageable. Kronos eyes suddenly lit up as he had an epiphany. The damnable centaur that had set the project back had unwittingly provided the solution to his problem. He now had the means to stick it to all his enemies at the same time! Instead of making two separate individual units, he would combine them! As Kronos laughed maniacally, the Muuian leader smiled with the idea of gold dancing in his head.

Having shaved or plucked off the damages feathers and taken out his damaged eyes, Pegasus was ready for his reconstruction. Muuian artisans and Hyperborean craftsmen forged plates of a durable yet light alloy and bonded it to eldritch stone support structures. The chest and wings powered by three solar cores that brought the creature back to its feet. The tail and wings had to be designed from scratch but the limbs they used to be attached to were able to support the alloy plates and merger of animated stone and flesh gave it the strength it needed to hover. The rider portion of the project was only half finished but it didn’t have to be as the entire top half of the unit was merged into the neck and head of Pegasus along with its new respiratory system and neural links. It was the height of both civilizations technology fused together and it radiated power. Not of the merely physical kind either, but of the soul chilling variety that was almost foreboding. Upon the frame’s completion Lemuria provided a supply of steroids to help the kaiju beneath the armor to regain and improve its muscle mass in order to better handle the strain. Despite still being horrible scarred, the beast healed and grew even more enhanced muscles. It truly was an weapon of mass destruction…now it just needed a commanding conscious.

When Bellerophon next opened his eyes, he was amazingly taller…and he felt that he had a lot more parts than he was used to. He scanned his surroundings slowly before being debriefed on his new state as an official Hero Unit. A few weeks of learning to control his new body and testing out its various tools such as the Boreas Spear, Bellerophon attempted flight for the first time. It was then that something screeched in back of his mind, He immediately landed and reported that something must be wrong with his core as he felt that something else was in there with him. Apparently Pegasus wasn’t as dead as he’d believed him to be and the creature’s mind now had an outlet in terms of his own. This…greatly unsettled Bellerophon but he felt he could handle it, he had faced far worse things right? As it turned out Pegasus would be the greatest opponent Bellerophon would ever face as it was a not a foe that could be contended with physically or with cunning. It was always there hovering beneath the surface…waiting to tear control away from him at a moment’s notice. When he dreamed he would face the creature, not nearly as large in his mind but somehow much more personal and frothing with unbridled rage. He responded by brutally rebuking the creature, sending it stumbling into the recesses of his mind and tightly wrenching control of their body firmly into his grip. The shrieking roar was silent for many days and he paid a visit to his family, thinking that they’d like to see him. It was a joyous evening and he got to see his grandchildren stare in awe of him as he watched the workers tend the vineyards…but suddenly Pegasus’s mouth began to twitch and it lunged for his wife. Bellerophon quickly brought the unit’s hands to grip the snarling beak and threw himself to the ground, wrestling the braying equine horror into submission and again roaring at it to back down. He told his family something was obviously wrong and he needed to ‘get it fixed’ before leaving in a disgust at his own weakness. He couldn’t believe he almost let the Bloody Prince of Storms eat his wife!

Unfortunately Pegasus was not a problem so easily fixed. The creature’s brain was needed to maintain control of the body and legs, providing a much needed source of power to the frame. They couldn’t remove its mind without risking severe damage to the brain and its functions. Bellerophon realized with a great amount of personal horror that he would have to continually fight Pegasus within the depths of his mind, in war for control of their body…until the day they both were destroyed. Bellerophon couldn’t risk what almost happened, almost happening again and after a rather mournful and tragic meeting with his family, Bellerophon committed himself entirely towards his duties as a Hero Unit. He was given a amicable personal residence where he could attend to his body’s unique needs in peace and without the risk of accidently eating someone. Bellerophon focused himself entirely on his mission and took Hyperborea’s propaganda and agenda to heart as a means of burying the growing feeling of despair and self loathing. The other Hero Units were awed by his ability to fly but some like Ulysses could see that there was something eating at the construct…almost literally. It would be Heracles that would attempt to really get to know the new recruit who oddly kept to himself in an occupation that was about as isolated as it got in Hyperborea. At first Bellerophon insisted that he was busy or that he had something to prepare for. Eventually he didn’t have the patience for politeness anymore and simply told the juggernaut to leave him in peace before flying off. Heracles gave the younger Hero Unit his space as they went on their respective missions. Bellerophon began taking his frustrations out on every target he was assigned, not satisfied with simply slaying or subduing it. Bellerophon set out to utterly destroy and humiliate his targets which made many of the higher ups (especially Kronos) quite pleased but also began to make several groups and several of the Hero Units wonder if Bellerophon was mentally stable. Seeing this, Bellerophon made a show of being the biggest, most arrogant and insufferable individual in history. His skill unapproachable, his knowledge of the enemy, unfathomable, his ego, unmeasureable, Bellerophon made a point of being as much of a pompous windbag as possible in order to not only divert suspicion of his slipping sanity but also to push as many people away from him as possible. Despite Ulysses snickering about Bellerophon revealing his ‘true colors’, Heracles continued to pester the other Hero Unit until the frustration in Bellerophon allowed Pegasus to briefly gain control and Heracles hand to put the raging animal in a full nelson long enough for Bellerophon to regain control. Sitting there sprawled in silence for a bit, Bellerophon admitted that now Heracles knew what had been bothering him. What would continue to bother him for the rest of his existence. Heracles had always had to deal with being compared to monsters, so it was with an understanding and empathic hand that Heracles helped the younger Hero Unit up and bluntly stated ’I feel your pain. Not literally but close enough to know that you can fight this.”

After Heracles had explained Bellerophon’s dilemma to the other Hero Units, it got easier for Bellerophon to open up to them. The Hero Units had surprisingly similar backgrounds, the original group that is. Those trained personally by Chiron were a bit…different…and Bellerophon honestly couldn’t relate to them at all, especially about having respect for monsters; which was something Ulysses also had quite a differing view towards as well at the time. In public, Bellerophon continued his grandstanding though it mostly toward espousing the virtues of Hyperborea and the evils of Atlantis rather than how he compared to everything. Bellerophon truly made an impact behind mere slander when he took up his ailing father-in-law’s request to take down Chimaera. He had flown over her mountain, proclaiming her rightful demise at his glorious hands and how the vile evils she had perpetuated would be undone upon him benevolently impaling her carcass for Hyperborea. Chimaera, all three of them, had responded that his shiny horse corpse shagging self couldn’t hit the broad side of Mount Olympus with anything remotely resembling a manhood and that he’d have better luck as a walking piece of statuary than as a kaiju slayer because even the half blind snake on her rear could see him coming. At this point both of them engaged in hostilities and unleashed their respectively elemental powers all over the mountain. Realizing she couldn’t reach the flying construct, Chimaera started running with Bellerophon in pursuit. He thought that if he pierced her ribs he might have the best chance of disabling and ultimately slaying her. Unfortunately Pegasus took this moment to advertise his perverse taste for snake flesh with goat milk and a side of roasted lioness. This internal bickering allowed Ra to coil around Pegasus’s neck which counted as Bellerophon’s torso and yank him to the ground where Chi immediately grappled for his head, fire blazing everywhere. When she broke his lance, the two minds worked together to instinctively come up with a plan, which was to jam the end of the Boreas spear directly into her jaws and down into her chest where the lead melted and plugged it up.

At this point Bellerophon realized something about Pegasus. The winged monstrosity hated his kindred as much as he hated mankind and if it meant killing them then the creature was willing to give him its complete co-operation. Upon being questioned, the blood thirsty horse bird said as much before chuckling ruefully and then asking about getting a bite of the corpse…Bellerophon had a ‘better’ idea.

Said idea was to carry Chimaera clear over the Atlantis Capital and drop her in the middle of a busy market square, flatten dozens and injuring hundreds from the shockwave and the debris. As he hovered in the sky above he called down to the Atlantians.

” Look to your ‘guardian’, now look to me, now back to your guardian, NOW BACK TO ME! No matter how hard you try and no matter how hard you defile the blood of the creatures you’ve bred, you will never make something as perfect, as powerful or as AMAZING as myself! You see this spear? It’s broken. Where’s the rest of it? It’s molten remains are what is clogging your ‘guardians’ smoldering heart! Your time is over Atlantis! We will send you and your abominations back to the hellish void that spawned them! Look down, now back up. You are now in the one place second to Hades and that despicable prison of yours does not count! I can see your frailty and weakness with crystal clarity! My eyes are now DIAMONDS! And I told you all this while on YOUR flying horse!”

As Bellerophon flew away, Zeus was have reported to bury his face in both palms and lamented that even after being sent away in retreat, Chiron’s legacy STILL found time to embarrass them.

Bellerophon continued similar such raids on Atlantis territories and supporters, carrying on his Solymi acquired habit of claiming trophies and bringing them home. He eventually ran out of room and so set them up as evidence of Hyperborean superiority on the mountain Chimaera once called home. Things looked quite dour for Atlantis until two events occurred: The Fall of Amazonia and the return of Ethon.

The first event was a long time in coming as Hyperborea had a long history against the feminist nation and their complete reversal of accepted social norms. They were formidable warriors and excellent guerilla fighters, their water locked island and close proximity to the more open minded Atlantian populace kept most Hyperborean forces at bay but now Hyperborea had Hero Units and one that could fly no less. Bellerophon had dealt with Amazon’s before, finding them to be a formidable challenge but ultimately not much different from the Solymi except they didn’t take trophies and knew when to retreat before returning with a vengeance. Hyperborea was hoping to kill the problem at the root by obliterating Amazonia in one fell shot, scattering the powerful woman warrior race to the winds. Bellerophon’s track record and ability to fly made him the center piece of their plan. Diving from on high directly into the center of their city, Bellerophon went about systematically destroying their massive ballista style defenses in order for Heracles and Theseus to reach the mainland unhindered. Bellerophon unleashed a terrible blizzard on the tropical capital, the sun baked wood and stone shattered and cracking under the terrible freeze and doing worse to the Amazons exposed. Bellerophon was a rather prudent individual despite the rumors, he didn’t really think that the Amazons posed enough of a threat to be wiped out completely but it was decided that Atlantis would be left no potential allies to turn to and Hyperborea wanted the old embarrassing rivalry ended tonight in a show of overwhelming force. Bellerophon was expecting the Amazons to realize how hopeless the situation was and flee. He was not prepared for their queen and her entire entourage to march through the blizzard and blow a horn at him to get his attention. He slowly hovered down, scanning for the slim chance of an ambush before focusing his keen lenses at the queen who didn’t even shiver and looked as furious as any fury had right to be. She demanded to know why Hyperborea was belittling the standards of battle by sending their ‘monster slayers’ after her people. Bellerophon replied that they were a possible staging ground for an Atlantis counter offensive and this was a preemptive strike. The queen scoffed, saying that neither the stone carvers nor the monster makers had any say on her island and she rightly guessed that it was just an excuse for Kronos to settle an old score. Bellerophon snarked that they had this coming for invading Hyperborean city states looking for children and ‘breeding stock’. The queen laughed, saying that that was all the stone carvers would find here. Bellerophon told her that resistance was futile and that it was in the best interest of her people to not be turned into frost bitten worm meal. The queen responded that it was the in best interest of her people to make Hyperborea look like the monsters they hunted while her strongest warriors escaped into the realms beyond the feud between the two empires. The queen was unwilling to submit and continued explaining how everything they were doing was pointless.

It was then that Pegasus decided to make his interest known, wanting to devour and destroy and blow the little maggots apart. Bellerophon found himself with an impossible choice: Destroy the amazons and fulfill the queen’s prediction of the Hero Units being seen as mindless killers without conscious or retreat from Amazonia in defeat and defy orders. Bellerophon never defied orders; Bellerophon also worked for many years to assure people that he was still human under all the metal and restrained monster flesh even if his persona was a that of an arrogant knight templar. As Bellerophon twitched with his indecision, the queen’s heckling and Pegasus’s demands to be fed mounted and mounted and mounted and mounted until –snap- Bellerophon decided that the third option wasn’t so bad after all. As he undid the bit that held Pegasus’s head in check and sent his spear tip first into the ground; the queen heard Bellerophon’s last words to her with a look of complete horror.

”Alright…PEGASUS…this time….you win.”

The light from the optics and cores of both horse and Hero Unit turned a hellish shade of red and Pegasus released a piercing bray of fury and hunger as he reared up and smashed his armored hooves down on the queen and her entire entourage, splattering them into a red pulp before lapping them up and running down every building in sight. Heracles and Theseus were waiting near the harbor, looking for the signal. It had been quite some time and Bellerophon had not signaled them. Heracles had a bad feeling and motioned for Theseus to follow. The two Hero Units made their way through the massive barricades that had been flash frozen and could not believe what they were seeing. Bellerophon was erratically rampaging all over the place, swooping in and diving down on buildings only to run through them and sending hundreds of huddling citizens flying into the frozen air as it continued to rain massive blasts of snow and ice everywhere. It’s wings not whipping the winds as they once did but the wind that did blow was turning Amazonia into ice chips to be ground into bloody slush by the rampaging Hero Unit. The strangest thing was that the bridle was unclipped and Bellerophon’s head and arms were flailing around as he wasn’t even using them. It would be almost comical if the rest of him wasn’t unleashing something akin to Canto 34 on every inch of Amazonia proper. Theseus asked Heracles why the poster boy was freaking the hell out and trying to do it all by himself. Heracles quietly replied that ‘Bellerophon’ wasn’t doing anything and that it was the damn horse bird that was running amuck. He stepped forward to stop him but noticed that huddled by where he stepped were a group of little girls and an old man, utterly terrified. Heracles looked around and anywhere that still had running, screaming people consisted of the elderly and children. Heracles remembered from his prior visit to Amazonia that Amazons were very particular about genetics themselves but didn’t tamper with it directly like Atlantis. Instead they resorted to good old human husbandry to get the best results and got rid of the rest. The queen was near the end of her reign anyway…it was fitting that she try to go out in a blaze of self serving martyrdom with all of the genetic ‘trash’ they had accumulated over the last decade. Heracles told Theseus to gather up anyone that came running and send them to the boats…he had a rampaging flying horse to wrangle.

Sometime later, after pinning the furious berserker horse under a rock and waiting for Bellerophon to come to, Heracles waited for Bellerophon to answer him. When Bellerophon asked him why Heracles had gone in without the signal, Heracles promptly socked him the face…both of them. Heracles then proceeded to ask when in HADES had Bellerophon released Pegasus on CHILDREN! Bellerophon was quiet for a moment…and then lamented that ‘he’ couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t accept being personally to blame for it or for defying orders. The mission was everything but he knew he’d never get over the guilt…guilt Pegasus would have used against him later. Heracles fumed quietly as Bellerophon further explained that by letting Pegasus fulfill the mission, the creature couldn’t use it as leverage later and that he felt he had no other option. Heracles finally let his fists fall to his side, knowing that in Bellerophon’s mind it was the only choice he had that didn’t result in failing either of his principles. Principles being the only thing Bellerophon used to distance himself from the frothing mass of acid scarred hell beast bolted in with him. In a strange way this was the opposite of the last encounter with Chiron. The alien that committed more evil by trying to do good as opposed to the comrade in front of him that did more good consciously doing evil. In the former case he had wanted to smash the target to pulp but couldn’t allow himself. In the latter…he found himself not wanting utterly waste Bellerophon but knowing that maybe it would be best that way….For better or worse Theseus arrived and asked if poster boy was back to normal. Heracles thought for a moment and stated a defeated ‘yes’ before trudging back to Hyperborea. Theseus sticking around a little longer to make sure Bellerophon could get around alright and the Hero Unit assuring him that he could fly now that the massive chunk of rock was off of his wing. Theseus laughed at that and went on after Heracles. This was twice now that the Hyperborean juggernaut had won a battle but ultimately felt he had lost. The conflict of this world was far more complex than he had once allowed himself to believe.

Bellerophon did not return to Hyperborea that night, or the next morning or even the night after that. He perched on his mountain, trophies clacking together in the ill wind as he furiously debated with Pegasus over the validation of his actions. Pegasus was outright reveling in the aftermath of their last mission though he felt THEY could have taken out Heracles and then it wouldn’t matter what they did as they’d be the strongest! Bellerophon angrily ranted that the queen and her entourage was enough, that everything else was collateral and that he had nothing to be ashamed of. Pegasus only snickered in his horribly mutilated Atlantian tongue, citing that Bellerophon had LET him out knowing full well what he would do and therefore was just as guilty. While the two continued to debate the ethics of the issue, the mighty Atlantian eagle Ethon screeched out his declaration of war and Bellerophon tiredly looked up to see the avian circling. He rose up, putting on his usual act, and insulting the eagle. For some reason the feeling of him being yanked from his ‘throne’ and sent crashing through all of his trophies was oddly satisfying. Pegasus however screeched in outrage and demanded that they kill the creature he considered one of his most hated rivals. Bellerophon obliged out of duty, the two were heralds of their respective empires after all. He fought as he always had, with power and finesse. Utilizing his abilities to their natural results…but it wasn’t enough this time. The eagle was not just angry, it was impassioned as if for the first time in its life. It was going to destroy him, it was going to tear him from the heavens and deface him…strangely enough Bellerophon liked that idea. Pegasus brayed in frustration, snarling for the ‘puny maggot’ to do something. Through the ice and wind of his metallic wings…Bellerophon merely opened his arms and thought ‘come at me’. In the span of time it takes a humming bird to beat it’s wings, Ethon’s talons were straight through the diamond optics of Bellerophon’s metallic face, the smooth surface gauged by the path the hooks took as they exited. Pegasus roared in fury within Bellerophon’s mind desperately seeking to tear control away from him as the plummeted. Bellerophon just grinned as their shared body smashed and shattered against the mountainside, the alloy of the wings rupturing, splintering and shredding as sparks and fire smoked from the trail of friction they left as they hurtled down…into a massive briar thicket. The vines pressing and entangling the equine portion’s legs and leaving them broken. His family’s honor restored, Ethon would return to a thankful Atlantis. Hyperborea however had been silenced. Their winning streak had met with a single, disastrous defeat and they scrambled to recover Bellerophon’s remains. They immediately surmised that Bellerophon was beyond their current ability to repair. Muu was trusted by no one at this point and Lemuria had completely withdrawn into itself. The only thing Hyperborea feared now was that Atlantis would attempt to use the hybrid creation to inflict a great deal of revenge against them or simply parade it around as the biggest comeback of all time which they were likely to do anyway as news of Bellerophon’s fall began to spread. So the Hyperborean leaders had Bellerophon towed far to east where Rome would once be founded…and a certain man of religion and ambition would discover him. But that’s a story for another time.

Present Day:

Hydra, Sphinx, and Dr. Lerna watched as Heracles tried to find the words to fit his thought. They could almost hear the gears of his enchanted stone brain grinding in pursuit of the proper phrasing. “Bellerophon was proud, that much was sure,” the golem said. “Yet that pride was also coupled with guilt and fear. He knew he was capable of great evil – that at any moment he could succumb to Pegasus’s lust for violence.”
“And freedom,” Hydra hissed.
“They were each others’ prisons,” Heracles said. “By keeping Pegasus in check, Bellerophon always held himself on the brink of self destruction. You fought that monster, Hydra. How would you like to live with him? How would you like to share control of your body with him?”
Hydra’s seven heads each recoiled. Though she was not unaware of what it was to share a mind – each of her seven heads could act independently, but the constant sharing of thoughts between them kept them from forming separate identities – even she knew that such a fate would be horrible. Thus she could not help but concede the point to Heracles.
“It was his burden,” Heracles said. “It’s funny. In some ways he and I were like two sides of the same coin. Everyone in Hyperborea thought I was little more than a monster… yet I hated fighting. I hated the work they set me to do. I was good at it, but… Bellerophon. Yes, they thought he was a hero. Yet he had to hide his monstrous side every day. He struggled to keep it in check.
“We fought for Hyperborea because it was our home, and like anyone we wanted to keep our home safe. It wasn’t just about glory for us, even the braggarts like Achilles.” Heracles stopped to think again. “Bellerophon was tortured for what he did every day. He was a child, really. A scared boy thrust into a role no child should face. He wasn’t prepared to fight, much less with that demon constantly clawing into his mind.
“I think, if things had gone differently, they may have improved each other,” Heracles continued. “Bellerophon forced Pegasus to channel his aggression towards a… well, what we thought was a noble cause. And fighting with Pegasus forced Bellerophon to take some responsibility. They could have saved each other, if it hadn’t been for the war.”
“I don’t think the Amazons would agree with that statement,” Sphinx chimed in with a smug, feline smile.
Heracles tensed up, and for a moment his optic glowed red. “The Amazons!” Heracles bellowed as his claws flexed menacingly. His massive form shook for a moment before becoming still once more. Again he seemed lost in thought. “That was one of our worse failures. I… yes, that was unforgivable. Children…”
All four participants in the conversation were quiet. Dr. Lerna in particular was struck by the horror of the story they were relating, even if she could only glean bits and pieces of it from the quarreling of the three ancient creatures. It seemed that the old civilizations were even worse than the mythological characters they inspired.
“It was a tragedy what happened to them,” Heracles finally said. “To the Amazons, to Bellerophon, and to Pegasus. And to all they killed. Our masters’ greatest folly.”
“I believe that honor goes to Typhoon,” Hydra said.
Heracles grunted in confusion. “That was the one time the four nations worked together!” he shouted. “That was no folly! It was what we should have done all along!”
“You didn’t get to see how it turned out,” Hydra said. “I did.”
“Then tell us, sister,” Sphinx said as a frown settled over her face. “What did happen to Typhoon?”
“I’ll tell that story when we find Echidna,” Hydra replied, dodging the question once more.
“I hope there is peace for them both,” Heracles said. “For Pegasus and Bellerophon.”
“What became of them?” Dr. Lerna asked.
“Ethon slew them,” Hydra said. “A mercy, I think.”
“I cannot help but agree,” Heracles said. “Hyperborea knew they could not repair them, and so laid them to rest in a sort of stasis. I forget where they were sealed away, but I hope they remain undisturbed. They do not deserve to be brought back into the violence of this world.”

The conversation now brought to a somber conclusion, Dr. Lerna excused herself from her giant companions and sat down next to the slightly less gigantic Spartacus. She felt shaken by all she had heard. Could such tales of horror really be true? Was mankind really capable of such evil? And worse, could it happen again now that monsters were coming back out of the wood work? All these questions plagued her as the group settled down for the night as they made their way towards the prison once known as Hades...

Important Dates:

• 40,000 BC: The Four Nations are first colonized – humans find the ruins and technology of a long dead (or at least disappeared) civilization, reverse engineer the technology, and begin to separate themselves from the rest of the world.

• The wild kaiju Pegasus is captured by Hyperborea in a joint effort with Lemuria. Preparations in a deal with Muu finally give hope for a true areal hero unit. Bellerophon is chosen to be the core consciousness of this new unit as reward for such exemplary service.

• Chiron betrays Hyperborea and attempts to severely sabotage their efforts by freeing Pegasus, following his own alien ideals. The Hero Units Heracles and Perseus with some unexpected aid from Bellerophon manage to drive the Centaurian away in agony but not before both Pegasus and Bellerophon are horribly injured. In order to save both, Kronos decides to combine both kaiju and human into one unit instead of a cooperative team. The Hero Unit Bellerophon is the result.

• Bellerophon discovers to his horror that he is locked in an eternal mental struggle with Pegasus as they now share the same mind and body. He is forced to cut ties with his family to avoid any further chance of Pegasus eating them. He throws himself into his duty with zeal and acts increasingly grandiose and arrogant in order to stave off accusations of insanity and to drive temptations away from him. Heracles however sees through him and eventually forces the truth out of him, lessening the tension between the hero units and Bellerophon. Bellerophon quickly becomes a herald and icon of Hyperborean justice.

• Bellerophon takes up his father-in-law’s task of riding Lycia of the kaiju Chimaera. He is nearly melted into slag but is saved in peculiar act of cooperation on Pegasus’s part. The two come to an agreement that their respective enemies make them allies and Bellerophon becomes a scourge to Atlantian military movements. Chimaera is defeated in dropped in the capital.

• Hyperborea attempts to wipe Amazonia off the map for good and sends its most Amazon knowledgeable Hero Units to dispatch them or force them to surrender in a daring night time raid. Bellerophon is given a case of ethical double jeopardy by the Amazonian Queen and in the full swing of mental breakdown releases Pegasus upon the Amazonian populace. Heracles and Theseus arrive to find a berserk Pegasus obliterating children and elderly left behind by the retreating Amazons. Heracles subdues Pegasus and has a heated argument with Bellerophon once he regains control. Forced to deal with the circumstances, the three Hero Units leave Amazonia in a state of bitter victory.

• Suffering a psychological breakdown and massive guilt, Bellerophon argues with Pegasus atop Mt. Chimera. Ethon returns from his dealings with Muu to find the state of severe disrepair and humiliation Atlantis is in and immediately seeks out Bellerophon for vengeance. Bellerophon is too apathetic to put up a full effort and despite Pegasus’s protests, Bellerophon allows Ethon to dispatch him. His broken and crippled form is taken in haste by Hyperborea to what is now modern day Rome and sealed in stasis.

• 10,000 BC: The Four Nations collapse, and most traces of them are lost for ages (though the Egyptians, Mayans, Aztecs, and Incans all manage to get their hands on artifacts from these civilizations).