Amadeus and Delphyne’s love story, Pt. 2

We pick up soon after we left off.  Amadeus Cho, teenage genius and Hercules sidekick, had just been refused by Delphyne Gorgon, the new queen of the Amazons.  Mainly because any romance between the two is legally forced to end in Amadeus’ slaughter.  The Amazons don’t play around when it comes to love.  At least no more than once.  Yet with Hercules wrapped up in an Olympian feud (followed closely by Amadeus and Hercules’ half-sister/goddess Athena), our two protagonists are sure to meet up again.  Like when Hercules has to battle Hera’s evil Olympus Group.

But what’s the fun in two gods and a child versus four gods and a snake girl?  To amp up both the excitement and colors used on the page, the battle gets crashed by Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers. I know romance doesn’t flourish in a massive warehouse superpowered free-for-all, but maybe some questions could be answered.  Like surely Delphyne could look past murdering Amadeus if they ever became a couple, right?  Unfortunately, a bigger issue keeps the star-crossed lovers apart: pesky vengeance.

I blame Poseidon more than Medusa.  He knows Athena can’t punish her uncle, forcing her to unfairly take out her anger on the girl instead.  More importantly, what is Poseidon doing hanging around Athena’s temple?  Sure he could find a tipsy mermaid or attractive manatee to seduce instead of a poor priestess who decided to devote her life to (petty) Athena.  Despite Amadeus’ unwavering affections towards our gorgon, I imagine Delphyne must still be angry that Athena took away most of her nose.  And probably the hair made of snakes.

Unfortunately, any convincing by the seventh smartest person in the world has to be delayed when Bullseye-as-evil-Hawkeye interrupts:

What a fantastic final line by Delphyne.  It’s disgusting, arrogant, and makes me like her way more than previous pages.  The arc ends with their possible relationship in limbo, and I imagine you figure their next encounter would involve a beach or restaurant or something where feelings could be discussed.  But Hercules is a fighter.  Delphyne is a fighter.  Amadeus could probably fight.  So we begin eight issues later with another battle.  This time, at least, Hercules gathered up all the (real) Avengers ahead of time.  The Olympus Group is much more beatable when you have Wolverine willing to foolishly claw gods.

I should have probably explained this earlier, but Athena’s quite important to dear Amadeus. While Hercules is his best friend, Athena’s his mentor — she’s the goddess of wisdom after all.  And despite Athena’s vague speeches, incoherent actions, and suspicious motivations, she still protects and guides young Amadeus.  And Hercules.  But mainly Amadeus.

Unfortunately, Delphyne didn’t come into this battle empty-handed.  She has some tricks up her fishnet sleeves (and a disregard that Amadeus won’t date murderers).

The holes are for the snakes.  They would get fidgety when smashed under a helmet.  And sadly for poor Athena, the realm of the Olympians means lots of crazy magic.  Magic that would totally defeat an unsuspecting god by a woman still horrifically angry at being turned into a walking reptile.

With vengeance fulfilled, the flames of love and passion can finally ignite between Amadeus and Delphyne.

Never mind, wrong flames.

I include the next scene for it’s beautiful simplicity.  For two people of absolute opposites, Hercules and Amadeus work so perfectly together.  Their friendship brings tears to the eyes of all other superhero friendships.  I can’t think of further proof than this:

Delphyne makes her move.  It’s confusing and I’m going to give my theory afterward.

Maybe Delphyne genuinely realized that murdering Athena went against her whole Amazonian ideals, but I like to think the real reason is far more wonderful than that: she can’t deny her all-consuming and soul-erupting love for young genius Amadeus Cho.  Every thought.  Every emotion.  Every desire screams into her mind to protect her soul mate, regardless of personal cost to herself or unsuccessful revenge.  She just can’t resist the burning sensation of her heart as she meets the eyes of the brilliant teenager.  Star-crossed?  Not anymore.  Not when Delphyne has the power/pistol to save her man from naked gold statues.  Or maybe it’s the Amazonian ideals thing.  Definitely one of those two reasons.

Unfortunately, Greek gods tend to hold grudges.

I guess pulling someone up from a cliff doesn’t mean much if you pushed them off in the first place. On Friday, our story ends with surprisingly even more combat than today.  Love blooms on the battlefield, y’know.  But now instead of Amazonian rituals holding them back, it’ll be omniscience, sorcery, and Thor.  Especially Thor.