Venus #5 — Nick Peron

Aug 21

Aug 21 Venus #5

Her Perilous Quest!

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Venus is awoken from a nightmare by the appearance of Jupiter in her room, who demands that she return to Olympus at once as they need the Goddess of Love there. Venus refuses to go, telling Jupiter that she has much work to do on Earth. Jupiter scoffs at the love of mortals, believing that they are incapable of unadulterated love. When Venus argues on the behalf of mankind, Jupiter then issues her a challenge: find a couple who are so in love with each other that nothing can separate them, telling Venus that she has only a week to find such a couple. If she fails, she must return to Olympus forever. Venus accepts the challenge, and Jupiter vanishes, laughing at how easy this victory will be. Venus realizes that Jupiter might try anything to make her lose the challenge and decides to remain on guard, but she laments over the idea of losing and being taken away from her lover Whitney Hammond, forever.

On the first day, a troubled Venus shows up for work at Beauty Magazine late, when Whitney is happy to see her, Della storms off angry. Venus is given the task of going through reader mail. She comes across a letter from Meg Saunders who is poised to marry her long time sweetheart Danny in one weeks time. Venus believes that this couple might be the pair she is looking for in order to best Jupiter. Although filled with dread, Venus convinces Whitney to allow her to fly out to visit Meg Saunders and cover her ideal romance for the next week as a feature story for the magazine. Whitney agrees to let her go, and Venus fights to keep her emotions in check, thinking to herself that this might be the last time she sees Whitney ever again.

Teleporting herself to the location of Meg Sander's home, Venus is mocked by Jupiter who vows to make her lose the bet. Later when Venus arrives at Meg's house, she meets Meg and her fiancée Danny. When she begins interviewing them, she is confident that the couple is unbreakable until Danny starts talking about how they are like Romeo and Juliet or Apollo and Daphne. Suddenly, Jupiter begins to laugh, and Venus begins to worry that he has a trick up his sleeve. Meanwhile, back at Beauty Magazine, Whitney Hammond pines over Venus while she is gone while Della Mason is convinced that Venus is never coming back. While on Olympus, Jupiter calls on Apollo and Daphne and sends them to Earth to try and break Meg and Danny apart.

That night, Venus leaves to go on a walk, but really uses the privacy to summon Jupiter and inform him that she has met the ideal couple. Jupiter appears and tells her that she has four days to make sure that the couple stays true to each other to win their bet before disappearing. While at the home of Whitney Hammond, Whitney awakens from a bad dream about Venus, while Jupiter appears in Della's dreams to inform her that Venus will soon be gone and that she will have Whitney all to herself.

Seeking to protect Meg and Danny from Jupiter's machinations, Venus recalls how Jupiter once had a feud with an actor and despises them and decides to convince the couple to spend the rest of the days leading up to their wedding in Hollywood in an attempt to thwart Jupiter. However, this does not stop Jupiter who sends Apollo and Daphne to Earth disguised as mortals Renée André and Rona Belladonna and has them befriend Meg and Danny. The two quickly befriend the couple much to Venus' concern and after a dinner party, they are all invited to join Renee and Rona on the beach the following day, an invitation that Meg and Danny accept. However, "Rona" pretends to be drowning making Danny rush out to rescue her, but her flirtations have no effect.

With one day left, Venus believes that she will win her bet with Jupiter. However, Jupiter appears and tells Venus that she has lost, just as the sound of a gun goes off. Venus rushes outside the cabin and sees that Meg has apparently shot Renee dead and is in a trance-like state. The body of Renee is taken off by the coroner, and Meg is arrested. After Danny fights off the press, he soon begins to be coerced by Rona, leaving Venus to fear that she will lose her challenge with Jupiter after all. The following day, Daphne once more posing as Rona tries to enchant Danny into kissing her. Seeing this, Venus appears before them and her dazzling magic snaps Danny out of the trance. Venus then forces Daphne to explain Jupiter's plot to her.

They then teleport to the coroner's office where the coroner is baffled by the lack of bullet wound on his patient. Venus then forces "Renee" to reveal that he is not dead, clearing Meg's name of murder. With only moments left, Venus then reunited Meg and Danny and grabs a priest and the couple is married before her time runs out, making Jupiter lose his bet. Jupiter appears before her and promises to keep his promise and allow her to stay on Earth.

The next day Venus returns to Beauty Magazine where she is happily reunited with Whitney Hammond, much to Della's chagrin.