Taylor Madison’s roommate Augustine Jones talks her into visiting Avengers Mansion, where Jones reveals herself as Hera and takes Black Widow, Giant-Man, Crystal, Deathcry, Jarvis and Taylor hostage. Hercules and Quicksilver, meanwhile, had been seeking Taylor at her daycare workplace, only to learn a strangely melancholy Taylor quit weeks ago. When they return to the Mansion, Hera shows off her hostages, brutally knocks out Quicksilver, and tortures Jarvis and Taylor. Enraged, Hercules attacks Hera until Zeus arrives and breaks up the fight, accompanied by Hera’s co-conspirator Ares, who had told Zeus of his and Hera’s contest to see who could hurt Hercules the most. Seeking to catch Hera in the act of plotting against Hercules, Zeus reveals he had magically created Taylor Madison as the perfect soul mate for Hercules, the sort of pawn Hera could not resist using – but now that Hera is exposed, the spell that created Taylor has run its course, and she will cease to exist, explaining why Taylor had always somehow sensed that her own life would be brief. Heartbroken and scared but defiant, Taylor and Hercules kiss, and Taylor urges Hercules to remember her as she fades away into nothingness. When Hercules rages against Zeus for the cruelty of his scheme, Zeus punishes this “ingratitude” by stripping Hercules of his immortality and exiling him from Olympus.