After patching up the injured villagers and helping secure what was left of their homes, Iolaus and I took over an old barn for our planning session.
I'd collected every bit of information like I was preparing for a research paper - witness accounts, precise measurements of claw marks using my hand spans and converting to metric in my head, and I'd even drawn a detailed map in the dirt floor.
"Okay, class- I mean, Iolaus," I caught myself, falling into lecture mode as I paced back and forth.
"Let's analyze the situation systematically." Iolaus perched on a broken barrel, watching me with a mix of confusion and amusement.
"Analyze? You usually just rush in and start punching." He squinted at me. "You have become so... methodical these days?"
I tugged at my cape nervously. "Well, you know what they say about wisdom and age..." The words felt weak even to me.
"You literally started saying that three days ago," Iolaus pointed out. "Right after you started using words like 'methodical.'"
Clearing my throat, I quickly pointed to my dirt map, which looked suspiciously like the topographic maps I used to show in my Ancient Geography lectures.
I'd even caught myself trying to add a scale marker before remembering that ancient Greeks didn't use kilometers.
"Look at this pattern," I said, tracing the lion's attacks with a stick. "It's not random. See how the attacks form a rough circle?" I'd actually plotted them chronologically, like a prehistoric PowerPoint presentation.
Iolaus leaned forward, genuinely interested despite his skepticism. "You think it's protecting something?"
"Exactly!" I exclaimed, getting that familiar rush of excitement I used to get when students finally grasped a complex concept.
"Based on the geological forma- I mean, based on how the hills come together here, I think there's a cave system. Perfect lion lair material."
I'd drawn little arrows showing likely travel routes and even sketched what I imagined the cave entrance might look like, based on my admittedly limited spelunking experience from that one archaeological dig in my sophomore year.
"You're speaking like those philosophers from Athens," Iolaus observed. "Next thing you know, you'll be wearing one of those fancy robes and debating the nature of existence."
"Nothing wrong with a little philosophical inquiry!" I defended, then quickly backtracked at his look. "Or so I hear. From... philosopher friends. Acquaintances. People I've briefly met. Moving on!"
Getting down to the real problem, I started sketching wrestling moves in the dirt. Not the Olympic-style wrestling I knew from modern times, but ancient Greek wrestling techniques I'd studied for years. Who knew all those hours in the university library would actually become practical knowledge?
"See, if we can't pierce its hide, we need to think differently," I explained, drawing stick figures that would have made my art teachers weep.
"It's like in wrestling - use your opponent's strength against them. Basic physics, really. For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction..."
I stopped myself before I went full Newton. "I mean, if it pushes hard, we can use that push to make it fall. Simple, right?"
Iolaus studied my drawings with growing interest. "This... this could actually work. But Hercules, where did you learn all this strategy? Usually, your plans involve more... smashing."
Would it? Well, it makes sense considering how I am still feeling the muscle pains even after so many days after I possessed Hercules!
"Oh, you know," I said vaguely, waving my hand in a way I hoped looked heroic rather than professorial.
"Picked it up here and there. A hero never stops learning, right?"
Thank the gods for interruptions - a village guard burst in right then, saving me from more awkward questions.
"Hercules! The lion's been spotted! It's heading for Apollo's temple!"
My heart started racing. Time to put theory into practice, though I really wished I had time to peer-review this plan first.
"Ready?" I asked Iolaus, trying to sound confident rather than terrified.
"Ready," he nodded, grabbing his weapons. "Though I have to say, this new scholarly version of you is... different."
Running toward the temple, I muttered under my breath, "You have no idea." My borrowed muscles were ready for action, but my academic brain kept spinning.
Years of studying myths had taught me how this story was supposed to go, but living it was proving to be a very different kind of education.
If my department head could see me now - their stuffy old mythology professor drawing battle plans in the dirt and preparing to wrestle a mythical beast. At least this would make for one incredible "What I Did Over Summer Break" story. Assuming, of course, that my clever plan didn't end with me becoming lion food.
"Remember the plan," I told Iolaus as we ran. "We're not trying to outfight it - we're trying to outsmart it." Like turning a theory into practice, just with higher stakes than a failed experiment. Much higher stakes.
I had Hercules' strength and a professor's knowledge. Time to find out if that combination was enough to handle a monster that had stumped every warrior who'd faced it. Though I had to admit, none of those warriors had probably tried to apply Newton's laws of motion to the problem.
My last thought as we approached the temple was almost funny, this was definitely going to require a major revision to my mythology curriculum. Assuming I lived long enough to go back and teach again.
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