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A small bell rang, and the people milling about, showing off their watches and jewelry, finally settled around the long, cold marble table. Who thought it would be a good idea to have a table made of stone? You couldn’t even touch it without feeling the chill and the grain.

The agenda was read. Hera rolled her eyes at the proposal to rename corporate buildings after the major directors. Men really needed phallic things named after them. Insecurities ran rampant even among the rich and famous. She voted no on this proposal and another to rechristen the headquarters after Zeus. He already had a ton of things named after him. A hundred-story building in the middle of Manhattan, a spire cutting up the sky, would be a bit much even for him.

Still, the motion carried, and Zeus’s cronies high-fived him, cheering as he guffawed good-naturedly. Hera looked down at her watch. She figured she’d be able to leave by the time she drained her glass.

When the last point of the agenda was reached, Hera’s ears picked up a strange noise coming from the hallway. Usually quiet, plush and posh, it rarely contained any noise above the deliberately neutral music. There were shouts. And a scuffle? She wasn’t the only one to notice, as several shareholders turned towards the glass wall separating the boardroom from the rest of the space.

“This is a private meeting! Only the Board of Directors and the major shareholders are invited!”

The poor assistant and two security guards were valiantly keeping someone away from the door. Then one of the men became airborne from a perfectly connecting left hook… A left hook, Hera would know anywhere. After all, she had seen it just a week ago.

As the dust of the altercation settled behind her, Nemesis stood in the doorway, her knuckles bloody, her shirt blindingly white, her mouth crimson and smirking. She deliberately rested her other hand on her sword. Hera realized she had developed a sudden weakness for long… swords.

“I see you started without me.”

“What in the hounds of hell are you doing here?” Zeus got out of his chair.

“Now, why would you mention Cerberus’s name in vain, old man?”

“Careful, Vengeance, you have no place here.” Zeus was all the way out of his chair and halfway to the door. Hera felt her breath still, her hands turning cold, a kind of cold that was more death than a beating heart.

Instead of cowering, Nemesis laughed. Hera could swear her heart went into overdrive and for an entirely different reason. It was not lost on her that Zeus tried to position himself between her and the newcomer.

“Oh, but I do… You see, old man, I don’t think any of the decisions voted on today are legal. So your skyscraper dick will have to wait till… let me see… Hmm, never?” Nemesis laughed again, a joyful, full sound, and Hera felt the need to open a window. Why was it suddenly so hot in here?

At the other end of the room, Hermes yelped and proceeded to take notes.

“What are you talking about, Vengeance?” Zeus moved again, but Nemesis cut his route, now squarely in front of the entire room and in plain view of Hera. In fact, did she… did she just wink at her?

Hera felt the wink in her solar plexus.

“Well, have you not wondered where Artemis is? And Athena? And Aphrodite, for that matter? They might not be your directors, but they sure as Hades should be here too, since they own your shares… Or should I say owned?”

“What?” Zeus turned a distinct shade of red. “They must have sent a proxy… Who’s got their proxy? They always send⁠—”

Nemesis’s smirk was downright dirty.

“Oh, they did send someone; they sent me. The new owner of their shares.”

Hermes’s shook his hand out a few times before returning to typing furiously. And speaking of… Three Furies arranged themselves behind Nemesis like silent sentinels. Zeus blanched.

“So you come here with your goons⁠—”

The tallest of the Furies made a hurt face. Nemesis patted her bulging biceps.

“There, there, Alecto. Big bad Zeus did not mean it that way.” Nemesis turned back to the room. “They’re my friends, and they’re also insurance. Not that I need any, not from you, but some of your people have proven that they can be very foolish…” Nemesis drew out a sigh and looked at Poseidon, who was flexing his massive muscles and reaching for his trident.

The slightest move from Alecto did the trick. The gilled fool sat down. Zeus gulped.

“Artemis… Athena… Aphrodite… That still only gives you 49%… My people still hold the majority…” Beads of sweat popped on his forehead.

And then Hera felt it. The heavy gaze of the Balancer of Retribution. Nemesis so rarely used her divine power in this way.

All the Gods and Goddesses had their moments when their powers turned terrifying. Zeus and his Thunder. Demeter and her Earth and Rain. Ares and his War… Even Poseidon and his damned Seas Rising… But Nemesis and the gaze of the Scales of Retribution, about to be balanced, held a special terror among the mortal and the divine. Nobody escaped it. Nobody could. So different from Justice, blind and bound by rules. Nemesis was restrained by nothing, just as retribution.

And Zeus, following Nemesis’s gaze, knew it. Hera held two percent of the shares. Hera held his fate in her suddenly trembling hands. And Nemesis had provided the confines for her to use them.

A graceful hand extended towards her.