"Strife, you idiot!"  Ares bellowed.
"It's not my fault."  Strife cringed, ducking a fireball.

"Discord had already captured Hercules.  All you had to do was guard him for a few hours," Ares sneered. "How hard could it be to keep him from getting loose.  He was already tied in break-proof, blade-proof, fireproof rope. And you told me that you'd made sure that he couldn't untie the knot!" Strife cowered on the floor moaning incoherently and peeking out from behind his arms every few bellows.  Exasperated, Ares lowered his hand letting an incipient fireball die.  "Would you like to explain how you screwed it up?"

Strife uncurled enough to look at Ares' glowering face.  "It was a misunderstanding?" he offered weakly prepared to duck if necessary.

"Really?"

"Didn't expect Iolaus to be able to rescue him."

Ares picked Strife up by the collar.  "Iolaus is Hercules' best friend, he was close by, and he has a history of rescuing the little bastard - what part of 'predictable risk' do you not get!"  Ares emphasized his bellowed question by throwing Strife across the temple.

"I know that, which is why I added the spell so the knot could only be untied by a ." Strife broke off and dived under another of Ares' fireballs. Leaping to his feet after it blew a hole in one wall, he screamed, "It's not fair!  How was I supposed to know Iolaus was a virgin?"
 

DISCLAIMER II:  Strife was only slightly singed in the making of this episode and has healed nicely.  Iolaus was moderately embarrassed at the discovery of his virgin status and Hercules has made sure that he will be unable to ever untie that knot again.

End