The Treasure of Zeus Transcript (Novelization)

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The Treasure of Zeus, Part I

This is a transcript novelization of the episode The Treasure of Zeus, as aired, written by Bryn. Any descriptive prose between the lines of dialogue are for the benefit of the reader to set a context for the dialogue, and may be subject to individual perspective judgement upon viewing of the episode.

Teaser

Fade in on a sunny blue sky, white fluffy clouds blowing leisurely past. Fade to a zoom-out on a large carved stone throne, Strife sprawled at the feet of the throne, his head propped on one hand. Strife yawns. The camera continues to zoom out, panning to the side to show stone columns decorated with crossed swords under shields on the columns. Fires burned in metal baskets atop tall metal stands, illuminating the throne room.

Ares yells as he comes into frame, swinging a sword. It clashes against something out of frame with a loud crash. Ares pulls back, considering his next move.

Ares: "You know, being a god..."

Opposite Ares is a floating suit of armor consisting of a metal helmet, metal chest and back plate, a metal skirt with flaps covering the groin and hips, metal gauntlets, metal kneecap and leg braces, metal boots, sword, and shield. There is no one inside the armor. Ares is armed only with a sword in one hand, an empty sheath hanging off of his belt over his left hip. Ares swings his sword, hitting his opponent's shield.

Ares: "...living in Olympus..."

Ares swings his sword, and the invisible soldier blocks with its own sword.

Ares: "...is no job for a weakling."

Ares and the invisible soldier circle each other, their swords raised. The invisible soldier creaks and squeaks as it walks. The throne room is dimly lit, a single shaft of light coming from what is probably a high window.

Ares: "Take me for example."

Ares and the invisible soldier circle each other. The invisible soldier twists the sword in its grasp, casually twirling the sword in a circular arc.

Ares: "'The God of War.'"

Ares swings his sword hard. The invisible soldier blocks again with its sword, but stumbles several steps back from the force of Ares's strike. Ares prowls towards the invisible soldier.

Ares: "Even I have to work hard."

Strife looks bored. Ares shoves his sword into the invisible soldier's midsection with a grunt. He leaves it in for a moment before yanking the sword out, and the invisible soldier falls to the floor in a clatter of metal armor.

Strife: "I'm tired of being a nobody, Ares."

Ares twirls his own sword, watching the pile of armor on the floor. Strife sits up, emphasizing his words with waves of his hands.

Strife: "I mean, 'Strife, The-God-of-War's-Nephew'... I mean, what does it say to anybody? I mean, I'm ready for the big time!"

Ares nods and the armor floats back up, reassembling into the invisible soldier again. Strife continues to speak animatedly, excitement in his voice.

Strife: "Why can't I be, uh- 'Disaster', or, uh, 'Catastrophe'?"

Strife frowns, his excitement fading a little as he rubs his forehead.

Strife: "Okay, well, that's hard to spell."

Ares and the invisible soldier are circling each other again, looking for weaknesses.

Ares: "If you wanna be a real god, you gotta prove yourself worthy!"

Ares punctuates his statement with a strike from his sword, which the invisible soldier blocks with its shield.

Ares: "Ya gotta act like a god..."

Ares circles the invisible soldier. Strife sighs, falling to the side and laying on the ground.

Ares: "...and make mortals suffer!"

Ares strikes again with his sword. The invisible soldier blocks with its sword, but is knocked back a few steps.

Strife: "Been there, done that. I'm Strife! I'm bad!"

Strife sounds exasperated. Ares turns from his opponent to face Strife. The invisible soldier waits patiently, not attacking while Ares's back is turned.

Ares: "Try 'naughty'."

Strife rolls his eyes as Ares speaks, ignoring the strange intensity coloring his uncle's voice.

Ares: "If you were any good at being bad, you'd dare what no god has dared before: destroy a mortal son of Zeus."

Strife's eyes widen with comprehension, and he sits up, pointing a finger at Ares.

Strife: "Ah-ha! You mean Hercules."

Ares is obviously angry at the mention of Hercules. He turns back to his opponent, attacking.

Ares: "My half-brother!"

Ares strikes with his sword, hitting the invisible soldier's shield.

Ares: "Alcmene's brat!"

Ares attacks again, and his strike is blocked. Strife flinches at the clash.

Ares: "The apple of my father's all-seeing eye!"

Ares swings his sword in the air between the invisible soldier's helmet and torso armor, 'beheading' him. The helmet goes flying up in the air. Ares watches it spin as it falls back to the ground to land on the pile of empty armor on the ground. Strife lets out a quick breath, enjoying the violence. Ares turns back to Strife.

Ares: "Hera wants him gone, and so do I."

Strife's eyes widen and he scrambles to his feet, holding a hand out.

Strife: "Whoa, whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out."

The invisible soldier started to sit up, shaking its helmet. Ares lifts a hand, dismissing it.

Ares: "Don't get up."

The armor slumps back to the ground. Strife approaches Ares.

Strife: "No god can destroy Hercules without being fried - forever - by Zeus. Am I right, or am I right?"

Ares circles Strife, walking up behind him and leaning in to talk low.

Ares: "You're half right. Obviously, we can't attack him directly."

Ares moves to stand behind Strife's other shoulder, his voice growing softer, more enticing.

Ares: "But sometimes a little strife can lead to a major... catastrophe."

Ares backs away, going to sit in his throne. Strife's face scrunches up as he warms to the idea, beginning to cackle.

Strife: "Yeah. Hercules..."

Scene fades from Ares's throne room to the interior of a barn.

Strife's Voice overlapping from the last scene: "Here I come."

Hercules is in Alcmene's barn, tossing full bags one at a time into the loft of the barn. Two ropes hang from the ceiling - Hercules grabs one and climbs it to the loft. The loft is filled with hay and the few bags Herc tossed up there. Once in the loft, Hercules picks up a rake and hefts it, holding it in the middle of the rod and testing its weight.

Across the barn is a small hollow knot in the wood of the wall - the target. Hercules aims the rake like a spear at the hole. He then closes his eye and covers his eyes with his left hand, and throws the rake at the target with his right.

The throw strikes true. Hercules spreads his fingers and peeks though them, grinning and laughing softly to himself when he sees that the rake hit its mark. Hercules jumps off of the loft, catching one of the ropes and using it to swing into a somersault in mid-air. He lands on his feet on the ground, and turns to face the target.

The hole in the wall is empty.

Hercules: "Huh?"

Confused, Hercules looks around and spots the rake laying on a pile of hay. As he reaches out a hand to grab it, two hands pop out of the pile of hay and grab Hercules's arm and pull, flipping Hercules onto his back.

A hooded man wearing a plain brown tunic jumps out of the hay, and grabs the rake. Hercules rolls away from his opponent before getting to his feet. The hooded man breaks the rake over his knee, tossing away the end, and begins to swing the wooden rod around his body in threatening arcs.

Hercules looks for a weapon. Grabbing a short coil of rope from the wall, he holds one end and lets the other fall to the ground, unwinding the coil, before swinging the rope in arcs around his own body in counterpoint to his opponent's moves. Hercules swings the rope out and one end winds around his opponent's rod. Hercules yanks the rope back, and the rod flies out of his opponent's hands.

The hooded man, now weaponless, turns and runs for a ladder that was leaning up against the barn wall. He turns, holding the long ladder like a jousting pole as he runs back towards Hercules.

Hercules grabs the end of the ladder and slams it into the ground, turning it into a pole vault that catapults the hooded man through the air and into the loft.

(to be added)