[center][h1][color=black]{ Nightmare at The Museum: Part 2 }[/color][/h1][/center]
[center]< Collab between [color=green]Zane Wulfe[/color] [@Ryteb Pymeroce] & [color=pink]Helena Brighthart[/color] [@baraquiel] >[/center][hr]elena was back in her own room, packing her stuff for the mission. As she was debating whether it would be nicer if she wore a light blue shirt or a more mellow shade of blue, her thoughts kept going back to what Zane told her a while ago:
​
[i]'By the way, I'm a Lycan'[/i].
​
She froze and dropped to the bed, staring at the ceiling. Then she placed a pillow on top of her face to muffle her screams... of love or of fright? She didn't know either, but one thing's for sure: she cannot go on a mission [i]alone[/i] with one of her kin's many predators. But she saw the way other creatures like her mingled at the hallways. at the cafeteria, at the gardens, and wherever she looked. Even the demonic-looking ones, like the scaled guy she saw looking at her and Zane a while ago, were accepted and treated just like any other students of the academy.
​
She sat on the bed and looked herself on the mirror. She's not that different than them. For sure, no one will care if she was of royalty. They will only care on how you treat them, as royalty or not a royalty, you should always treat others just as how you want them to treat you.
​
Helena breathed deeply. She sure wouldn't start judging Zane Wulfe now. If anything, him being flirty just meant everything's okay with them. But all those teasings and kissings, did they mean anything to him or...?
​
She shook her head. Better to get the answer from the source. She finished packing up all her essentials and proceeded to the portal room, waiting for the Lycan to arrive.
[hr]
Zane was returning to his room when a certain smell hit him. Immediately he went on the defensive, as wolf pheromones entered his nose. Another Lycan was on campus. His mind was working on overdrive thinking that Tyr had tracked him down. The faculty would prevent the clan from killing him on campus but the city was another matter.
​
He'd need to silence them, discreetly. If the clan got wind of a sudden disappearance, they'd swarm in like a pack of locusts. He'd pick up some aconite in Washington, under one of the burner identities the clan used. Every child of the Wulfe clan was trained to resist torture so he'd have to bribe one of the fae to help him. After that he'd have to burn the body and make sure it's buried in a cold iron-
​
The wind changed and he got a proper whiff of the smell. It was a different clan. Relaxing immediately, he focused back on the mission with Helena. Truly her adorableness could launch a thousand ships. While getting his stuff together, he also looked up the client and the town itself. Rule number one of mercenary work is never trust the client. Hmm, this wasn't the first missing persons report in the town, but they were all hushed up by the local law enforcement. Explains why they came to a third party. The museum opened around the same time the disappearances started, which makes it a good place to start.
​
With equipment pulled together, including his knuckleduster that was the sealed form of his sword, he headed down to the portal room to head off with the lovely carbuncle.
[hr]
When Zane arrived, Helena nodded at him but didn't look at him. [color=pink]"Hey. We should probably get going now. Hope we can get to the bottom of this",[/color] she said to him without looking at him. She knew she was being unreasonable and she shouldn't even be awkward with him; she also knew that everything has probably changed for the better in the modern times but still, Helena could not help but feel... scared.
​
She inputted the coordinates on her handheld device. It notified her that the portal was already modified and fixed at their destination. Helena took a deep breath. [color=pink]"I will see you on the other side, Zane",[/color] she said in all seriousness, the flirty tone absent from her voice, before she stepped into the portal. When she got to her bearings, Helena found herself in an alleyway. She looked at her device to make sure the coordinates were alright and that's when she knew, she really was at Washington, DC., waiting for her partner to follow through.
[hr]
Helena was just as adorable as ever, especially as she was trying to be both a serious adult and a shy teenager at the same time. In the privacy of his head Zane questioned whether his sadistic tendencies were hereditary, then came to the conclusion it didn't really matter either way.
​
Stepping through the portal, experienced the unmistakable smell of Washington. It was like New York but worse. The place was a literal shithole apart from the government buildings, and even they were filth ridden with those rats people called politicians. Looking at the map on his device, they were only a few blocks away from the museum. [color=green]”The museum is this way.”[/color] Zane stated, in full mission mode, [color=green]”Stick close, they have all kinds of thugs in this cesspit.”[/color] 
[hr]
Helena nodded and followed him. It was so full of people, and Helena was overwhelmed by the number of humans all at one place. And [i]ugh[/i], the air was so putrid here from all the smoke and pollution, Helena imagined an ogre's fart was far more pleasant. She does not get why humans would continue to destroy their own home and still live as ignorant as they are. 
​
She was beginning to feel like she needed to puke, and she couldn't help but hold on to Zane. [color=pink]"C-Can we stop by somewhere that is cooler and more fragrant? I cannot breath properly,"[/color] she weakly said to him. She asked that not because of her not being used to be around 'commoners', but because she grew up breathing actual fresh and pure air. She needed to get used to the current living state of the humans in order to show her kin that times have changed since then, but why oh why do they have to be so disgusting?
[hr]
[color=green]”Here.”[/color] Zane said, pulling a facemask out of his pocket, [color=green]”I use this when I have to work in sewers, it's enchanted to filter out everything except breathable air. Might want to invest in one if you have an averse reaction to cities.”[/color] 
​
While he said that, he was keeping an eye, well a nose, on the surroundings. Nothing supernatural jumping out, though there does seem to be the smell of earth magic. This wasn’t entirely surprising, as most of the cities had old magic running through them. London, for example, had at least three differen leylines in it. Though it did seem slightly off, he could attribute that to the corruption of the humans here. Awful clients, the lot of them, more likely to stab you than pay you.
[hr]
She coughed a bit and put on the face mask. When she wore it, Helena was delighted when she can breath as deeply as she could without hassle. [color=pink]"Thank you very much, Zane.",[/color] Helena said greatfully to him. She was very wrong indeed to judge a book by its cover. She was thinking a lot about that when it came to her kin. Were they, including Helena, really judgmental that they look at other species that aren't of theirs as a threat, or were they just so traumatized and haunted by the past?
​
That was a thought for another day. Right now, she needed to focus on the mission. Zane might already realize Helena was a Carbuncle, but he didn't know what they could do. 
​
She found herself holding on to Zane's arm, once again feeling how strong he was under his clothes. If Helena were to be asked about it, she would just say she was holding unto him so she wouldn't be swept away by the crowd. She looked around as they walked and she had mixed feelings about what she saw. [color=pink]"Zane, it says on the device that the museum is just a few minutes of walk away from where we are. Let us continue our mission",[/color] Helena said to him. 
[hr]
Zane walked along, growling at anyone who came too close to them. No supernatural creatures so far, apart from the bloody wretches. How no one has figured out how to exterminate the bastards is one of the great mysteries of monster hunting.
​
[color=green]”You sensing anything?”[/color] Zane asked, [color=green]”I can't sense magic, except for strong elemental spells.”[/color]
[hr]
Helena closed her eyes and concentrated. [color=pink]"I'm sensing a faint essence of strong magic from... there,"[/color] she said as she pointed a finger at a direction. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see it was the museum they were looking for. Statues adorned the entrance, with pillars like the Greek temples she read from books. People of all ages came and went by its entrance, with some posing and taking pictures of its outside. 
​
She looked worryingly at Zane. [color=pink]"We may be fighting a powerful enemy here. Better if we should proceed with caution. We shouldn't do anything suspicious or that will give away that we're not ordinary humans,"[/color] she said to him as they walked towards the entrance of the museum.
[hr]
[color=green]”Judging by the theming of the museum we're probably dealing with a being from Greek Mythology.”[/color] Zane said, looking at the museum, [color=green]”Though that could be to throw us off the scent. Judging from the information I found online, the creature is smart enough to manipulate the local law enforcement, as well as staying below the radar.”[/color]
​
The statues gave him a bad feeling as he approached, though he wasn't sure why. There was a smell of life around them, although that could be attributed to the people walking about. That scent of earth magic was stronger, and boded ill. Earth mages were the worst to fight indoors as you were surrounded by their element. [color=green]”Judging by the tang of earth magic in the air, we are probably dealing with a Geomancer. Be careful.”[/color]
[hr]
Helena nodded at Zane as they approached the museum. When she heard Zane utter the signs of geomancy, she looked at him worryingly. Some species of Carbuncles have evolved to have influcence over crystals and jewels of the earth in addition to Light Magic. Could this be the work of one of her kin? She sniffed around for a bit, and she didn't smell a trace of Carbuncle scent in the air. In fact, she smelled something quite different, yet oddly familiar...
​
Before she could think any further, Helena's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a group of girls talking near them. She continued to listen and realized they were talking about the museum, complaining about what it seemed to be an abundance of male statues being added over the past few month compared to the female ones. Helena tugged on Zane's sleeve and relayed the information. [color=pink]"This might be a helpful clue to help us determine the enemy. It may seem like she is a female human or... some other thing. So you best be wary of women approaching us and taking an interest in you, because you are... kind of... handsome..." She mumbled the last word, blushing a bit as she averted her eyes from looking at his.
[hr]
Zane was slowly putting the pieces together, having also heard the girls nattering away. Sometimes it was a pain to have such good hearing. Despite not being an expert on Greek mythology, he was aware of most of the more dangerous, read as intelligent, creatures. Of course this didn't help if it was just another creature with a Greece obsession.
​
He hoped it wasn't the monster he was thinking of, as their power is hard to defend others against. As long as he didn't smell snake he could maintain belief he was wrong. [color=green]”We'll stick together in there, pretending to be on a date.”[/color] Zane said, smirking slightly as he felt her heartrate spike, [color=green]”If you smell snake, shut your eyes.”[/color]
[hr]
[color=pink]"O-O-On a d-date??".[/color] Helena stuttered and looked at Zane with eyes wide in surprise. She felt her cheeks blush again. She should really stop being so transparent. She cleared her throat and patted some nonexistent dirt on her clothes. [color=pink]"I s-suppose that would work."[/color] Helena said, averting her eyes as she wrapped her arm around Zane's. They continued to walk to the museum, like a couple on a date.
​
Admissions were free, so they could enter the museum without paying anything. It was vast and really majestic. Of course this was nothing compared to their museum back in her kingdom, but this was not too shabby. What really bothered her though was the number of statues all over the place. It's true what the ladies said: there were more male statues than there were female ones. Helena looked away from them as some of them were naked, exposing their genitals.
​
[color=pink]"Since we're already here, we should take a look around. That way, we can scout out the entirety of the museum, maybe we can even find a clue or two."[/color] Helena said as she grabbed a phamplet that had the map of the whole museum. Despite the trouble that lays waiting for them, she couldn't help but feel very excited especially as this was her first mission. Not to mention that she could do this with her very first friend as well.
[hr]