Gods of War

A visibly anxious Johanna darted back and forth from her closet, to a green dufflebag that rested on her bed. There had been only one thing on her mind the past couple of months. A subject she didn’t want to think about, and yet the thoughts kept popping up. A pair of eyes followed her to and fro as she stuffed clothes from the closet into the bag. The ashen haired teen would let out an audible sigh. Placing her hand on her hip, Johanna surveyed the items she had packed so far. “Are you sure you’re going to be alright?” came the soft spoken voice of a young girl sitting off to the side. Johanna shot the girl a glace. “I’m fine Olive. It’ll be ok. Besides, this is the bast way to learn about my mother without having to actually talk to her.”

“I think that’s everything….” Johanna would say, giving the closet, and her room one final look over. “What about all that!?” Olive would blurt out. The young girl then pointed to Johanna’s closet where a military grade trunk sat. Inside the case was all of Johanna’s gear that she used for thieving. While normally she would have packed all that stuff first, Johanna hadn’t seen the need to do so this time. Though now that it was pointed out, Johanna felt her fingers getting a little sticky. “Good call! Never know, I might find something I like while I’m out there.” Olive flashed a cheeky smile, even though she was aiding in Johanna’s nefarious activities, she was just happy to help.  

After placing her suit deep down in her bag, Johanna swung the massive thing over her shoulder and flashed Olive a smile. “You gonna be ok without me? You’ve got my number so call me if anything happens.”
“Jo, I’ll be fine. If anything, I should be asking you if you’ll be alright. You sure you don’t want me to go with you?”
“I’ll be fine Olive. Besides, someone’s gotta keep an eye on him!” the ashen haired teen would say, tilting her head in the direction of her bed, where a fluffy black cat rested. The cat’s head quickly perked up, and its eyes locked with Johanna’s. “Behave yourself while Im gone!” she warned the cat, pointing to it with a metal finger. To which the cat responded by stretching out and rolling onto its back.

With that, Johanna would flash Olive a smile, give her a hug, and then head out. As the teen stood there on the sidewalk attempting to hail a cab, she contemplated calling Jake. Having him around would definitely take a bit of the edge off. Shaking her head, Johanna would ultimately choose against it. She had involved the boy in enough of her troubles. And every time the two had gotten together, things just seemed to happen around them. So perhaps it was for the better, that Johanna didn’t call the boy and insisted on tackling this trip on her own.

A few moments after leaving her apartment, She’d hail a cab to the airport and after an extremely boring two hours, she’d board her flight to LA. If Johanna thought the two hour wait was long, then the six hour flight from New York to LA was going to feel like an eternity. Still, she found ways to pass the time. There was the in-flight movies for starters and Johanna had some ‘homework’ to go over. Using the fact that she had the aisle seat, Johanna would get up at some point during the flight and reach into a backpack she had brought along with her. Inside the bag was a small stack of papers that were stapled together. The papers outlined a bunch of new exhibits and attractions at the newly remodeled and expanded Natural History museum.

One of the key features, and the main reason why Johanna was even on this flight to LA in the first place, was an exhibit dedicated to Greek mythology. The key pieces of which were artifacts thought to have been forged to honor a currently unknown war deity. Johanna recognized the artifacts almost immediately as idols and weapons dedicated to her mother. The only reason she knew this at all, was because the pieces bore a striking resemblance to the pieces she had stolen from a museum in Chicago. After studying the packet of paper, Johanna would put it back and simply wait out the rest of her flight.

After flagging down a taxi Johanna would arrive at a hotel and after unpacking, she’d quickly change into her ‘surveillance clothing. This included a baseball cap, glasses that weren't even functional, a pair of beige short shorts, and a shirt that said ‘Rock and Roll’ on it with a picture of a stone and geode behind the lettering. Grabbing her wallet, phone and notepad, Johanna was ready to tackle the museum and learn all she could about her mom, and quite possibly scope out something worth getting her hands on.

A few moments later she’d arrive at the newly remodeled museum, glasses on and notepad in hand. The teen looked every bit as nerdy as her ensemble led on. Her first mission would be to find the Greek exhibit which was located in the west wing on the first floor. Along the way she’d eavesdropped on a few guards and while she hoped to hear something pertaining to their operations, she instead heard them talk about strange occurrences that had been happening in the night, ever since the Greek exhibit had opened.

Cold air pushed through the vents of the motel room, Miguel’s hands rested on his hips in a half dressed fashion. Complex matrix’s of Nordic runes running along the planes of his dark tanned skin. ”Really? A clue to who my father is will be in a museum?” He questioned at a mirror hanging off of the wall, the form of a black robed woman projected within the fragile surface.

“I would know. It’s my job to know things.” The figure responded in a slightly annoyed fashion, hands rested on shapely hips.

”I know what you do. Just sounds...really disappointing,” He frowned, sound of the air-conditioning whirring loudly and reminding him that he was lacking a shirt. ”can’t exactly just walk into a museum and steal one of the exhibits.”

”What you do to get the item is none of my concern. I gave you the information so now you owe me what I desire. The blood of a fury,” They demanded in a voice that began to echo somewhat,  ”should be no issue for a powerful demi-god such as yourself. ” Now she was appealing to his own pride, something that was both intelligent and underhanded all at the same time.

”Fine, you’ll have your blood soon enough.” This was not his first time dealing with a sorceress, especially those that seemed to demand much from him. This wasn't the first time he was expected to hunt down and kill something for the sake of their stupid creatures. Like that the images across the mirror faded, leaving him with a strangely blank surface before it began to reflect him once again. That left him in silence for a few more seconds, feeling the faint rays of sunlight break through the curtains of his bleak room. Still a few more hours until he had to make his move anyway.

Plenty of time to work through how he gets an artifact out of a likely guarded place without having to kill anyone.

Looking to the screen of his laptop, he scanned over what few images were available of the exhibits and hummed to himself. Looked like he was going to have to think of something and that just meant putting effort into thinking of the solution. Digging through his bag, Miguel removed a dark blue button up shirt, slipping on a dark gray under shirt before slipping that on over it. Adding a pair of tan cargo shorts to that and he was set, far more presentable for public movement.

It didn’t take long from there to get moving, grabbing a taxi and stepping out before the front of the museum, this tatted up looking kind of guy that most assumed had no reason to be around this kind of place. All that boring history that people for some reason cared about seeing preserved, and some just came to make themselves seem smarter than they actually were. There were a few exhibits to unknown war deities, one of which had to be dedicated to one of his parents. He after all had been made just aware enough to know that he was a demi-god and nothing else.

Petting one of his hind pockets, Miguel smirked in a pleased fashion before stepping through the front door. There was something about paying a fee but not like he was totally lacking in the cash to get things done.  Eyes darted side to side as he watched the people moving around him, each doing their own things without real regard for his own reason for coming here. Something told him that the place had guided tours but that meant following people who talked like what they said mattered when he just did not care. As he walked through the halls of the museum, Miguel noted statements about strange occurrences and night that reminded him that he might find two things at once here.

Strange things happening when a new exhibit was put into place practically screamed monsters.  ”Wonder if that’s what i’m looking for,” He muttered to himself. Only one way to find out.

After overhearing the strange troubles the guards had been dealing with during the night shift, Johanna made her way to the center area of the museum. It was a wide open room with a single display that took up the center area. On that display were the reconstructed skeletons of a tyrannosaurus and stegosaurus, positioned in a way the seemed to depict a battle between the two large beasts. Johanna had seen this display before. Actually she had seen it plenty of times before, but it always seemed to leave her awestruck. Trying to keep up the persona she set for herself, the ashen haired teen would pull a pencil out of her cap and would sketch the display.

As Johanna sat there and sketched, she’d give they occasional glance around. It was her subtle way of checking out where the cameras were and to see if she could pick up on guard routes. When Johanna had finished her sketch, she found herself instinctively drifting towards the east wing instead of the west wing where the Greek exhibit was. What was in the east wing exactly? Jewels, lots and lots of jewels. All ripe for the taking. At least they would be, but Johanna managed to stop herself. There would be plenty of time to look at the jewels later, for now she had some real history to check out.

Taking a deep sigh, Johanna found the courage within to turn around and head off in the right direction. As she moved closer and closer towards the Greek exhibit the teen found that courage waning. “I don’t even like her. Why am I even bothering with all this?” Johanna argued with herself. There really was no rhyme or reason for Johanna’s sudden desire to learn more about her mother and yet here she was. As she stood before the entrance to the Greek exhibit, the girl took a moment to calm herself. “Just because I’m here, doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven her yet. I’m doing this for myself, that’s all there is to it.” she mumbled to herself while shaking away any nerves.

After reasoning with herself, Johanna would attempt to take a step into the exhibit only to stop dead in her tracks as she nearly collided with a rather tall man. As he passed by her, Johanna felt this strange sensation wash over her. A familiar feeling. Her eyes would dart from the man to a display case. Almost like she knew it was there. It became rather clear to the ashen haired girl as she drew closer to the case. The familiar feeling she had gotten when she entered the exhibit only grew stronger as she approached the case. “These gotta be related to her…” Johanna whispered to herself as she lifted up her notepad and retrieved her pencil.