Odysseus waited anxiously with Andromache in a shadowy alley next to the southern gate. He was relieved to see Aeneas – fully clad in Achilles’s golden armor - running down the street toward them with a small pack of refugees from the palace. Andromache waved him over, so he’d know Odysseus wasn’t hostile.
“Your goddess friend said I should come find you here,” Aeneas said, “I thought it might be a trap, and then I realized there wouldn’t be much point to it. What are you doing?”
“Rebelling,” Odysseus said, “Against god and king. It’s a small rebellion, but it’s something. I’m going to get as many of you out of here as possible.”
“How?” Aeneas said, “You Greeks braced the doors from the outside, even with this armor I couldn’t open them from inside.”
“I have a friend working on it,” Odysseus said, “But we need to be here when these gates open, and there’s really not as many hiding places here as I hoped. One of Agamemnon’s patrols could be here any moment.”
“Are you prepared to raise arms against your countrymen?” Aeneas asked.
“No.”
“Will you prevent me?”
“No,” Odysseus said again.
"Fair enough," Aeneas nodded.
Screams and shouts filled the air throughout the city, but the piercing wail of a young woman stood out from the rest, and it was coming from around the corner.
“It’s Kassandra!” Andromache said.
“I’ll get her,” Odysseus said, “You lot stay hidden as long as possible, and run for it the second that gate opens.”
Odysseus jogged down the street. He could have let the girl pass, but the thought broke his heart – letting her run blindly past her only chance of salvation… he would never be able to forgive himself for that. He made it to the corner just as she ran past. He reached out and seized her arm, pulling her around the corner.
She screamed and thrashed so violently that, for a moment, Odysseus was afraid he would dislocate her arm.
“Let me go! Let me go! She’s after me!”
“Who?”
“Athena!” Agamemnon’s voice came around the corner, followed by the man himself and a contingent of mixed troops, including Diomedes, Teucer, and Ajax the Greater.
Agamemnon reached for Kassandra, but Odysseus pulled her behind him.
“Why does Athena want the girl?” Odysseus asked.
“Don’t know,” Agamemnon said, “And at this point, I don’t care. I long ago accepted that it was my lot to serve. No matter how moronic the orders were.”
“What?” Odysseus asked.
“Please, do you really believe I’m such a prideful fool that I actually thought it would be a good idea to keep Achilles out of the fight for years? Athena told me to find a way to drive him into his tent, to make the war stretch, so I did. Now, tell me Odysseus, why are you here on this apparently empty street that leads to nothing of interest except a barred gate?”
“I… got lost…” Odysseus said, “Neo’s directions weren’t as good as I thought they were.”
“No, they weren’t. We ended up in the old stables when he sent us for Andromache and the….”
There was a loud, oscillating wail from the alley nearest the gate. Even in the din of the city’s destruction, it pierced through all of the noise like a glowing arrow. Odysseus tried to keep a straight face, but it took only the slightest hint of a grimace to betray him to Agamemnon.
“Now who could that be, Odysseus?”
“Just some peasant woman and her child, I’m sure.”
“Diomedes,” Agamemnon said, “Retrieve the 'peasant woman for us,' please.”
Diomedes jogged down the street, spear in hand, but stopped when Aeneas emerged from the shadows. The early morning sun to his right glinted off of his stolen armor and his mother’s knife.
Ajax and Teucer rushed past Agamemnon to support their comrade, and Agamemnon grabbed the girl from Odysseus.
“No!” Odysseus shouted.
“Yes,” came the booming voice of Athena in return, “Yes, Odysseus. Surrender the girl and Hector’s family, all of them.”
“No, please!” Odysseus said, “What does it matter if we spare a few of them, let them go?”
“Have you no grasp of how the world works?” Agamemnon said, “Spare Hector’s son today, and twenty years from now you’ll be staring down a Trojan fleet come to pay us back for his father’s death.”
“It’s true, Odysseus,” Athena said as she strode forth, towering over Agamemnon’s hoplites, “You know it is.”
“I don’t care, damn it!” Odysseus said, “I’m tired of deciding what’s right and wrong based on what might happen as some distal outcome. I’m saving them because it’s the right thing to do at this moment, and nothing that might or might not happen in the future will change that!”
Menelaus and Helen appeared behind Athena, with Adresteia walking openly in her god form. She was feeling better, though her wing was still too injured to fly.
“Odysseus,” Athena said, “We had an agreement. A pact. You serve me.”
“Not anymore,” Odysseus said, “Not like this.”
“Adresteia,” Athena smiled, “I have a new task for Nemesis. My servant has broken faith with me, and needs to be punished for his defiance.”
Adresteia didn’t say anything. Athena turned to look at her and saw the goddess was just staring at her like she was mentally deficient.
“Adresteia?” Athena asked.
Adresteia walked past her, and stood next to Odysseus.
“Adresteia, punish his insolence.”
“Do you have brain damage?” Adresteia finally asked.
“What? Why would you say such a thing?”
Adresteia had meant it as an insult, but now she was wondering if it was true.
“Why on earth would I murder my lover for you?”
Menelaus and Agamemnon both looked at Odysseus with raised eyebrows. Odysseus shrugged.
“You helped Zeus rape me,” Adresteia said, “What do you think I owe you?”
“I… I thought we settled all of that,” Athena’s eye twitched, “I thought we were friends, Adresteia? I thought we were all friends.”
“Maybe we could have been, once,” Adresteia said, “I could have forgiven you for what happened decades ago. But like Odysseus, I’m done doing bad things for what other people think are good causes.”
Athena glared at them quietly for a moment. “You were the only ones I had left,” she finally said, “Do you know what we could have done with this place? Together? What we could have built? Fine. Agamemnon, kill Odysseus. The rest of you, kill Aeneas and the Trojans cowering behind him.”
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