Detective Ross walked across the parking lot inside the Station's basement and to her car. It was a little over nine, and she had just finished her shift. Her partner, Det. Kyle has been missing for two days now, and even the Captain noticed. Normally she wouldn't worry, but there was no word from M.A.R.S, and even she was getting anxious.
Just as she approached her car, she felt an overpowering presence and immediately turned to face the presence.
"Even spending millennia in banishment hasn't been enough for you." The presence spoke, not at all worried about sneaking up on a police detective.
Det. Ross' face twisted. One of the reasons for her banishment was standing right in front of her, mocking her. "I see daddy's little girl decided to pay me a personal visit." Two can play.
Athena just smiled. "Careful, even without father around I'm still a Greater god."
"What do you want?"
Athena, who was leaning on one of the support columns, stood and approached. "Even when banished, trouble seems to find you." She stopped a couple of feet away from Det. Ross. "I want you to leave this city. Your presence is interfering with my plans."
"This isn't your city. You have no right—"
Athena blurred forward with a dagger in hand. She knocked Det. Ross into one of the support columns and before Det. Ross could recover. Athena had her dagger on Ross's throat.
"It doesn't matter, Eris, you're banished. I doubt anyone would care if something happened to you."
Ross gritted her teeth. "I'm a cop."
Athena blinked before she gave a throaty laugh. "You really have fallen from grace. I'll only give you a week. Don't let me down."
Athena let up her grip and took a step back. "A week should be enough to tie up all loose ends, including your partner, Detective Kyle. He's becoming…a problem for me."
Eris rubbed her throat. "I'm handling it. I sent an assassin to deal with it."
"Excellent, we're on the same page. I hear Mars is a beautiful place this time of the year. I'm sure Ares won't mind having you," Athena smiled before she disappeared in a brown mist.
Eris stared at the spot that had previously been occupied by Athena and inwardly sneered. It didn't matter if she left the city. The coming storm has been decades in the making.
Eris got into her car and drove out of the parking lot. Initially, she planned to go home and relax, but she changed her plans and drove straight to M.A.R.S.
About an hour later, she pulled up into M.A.R.S base's parking. She headed straight for the office of the base commander. Even though she was a banished goddess, she still commanded respect as an Olympian, and no Supernatural would show her the same disrespect as her kind did.
Eris found the base commander's secretary packing up and ready to call it a day. The secretary immediately stopped and bowed. "Is he still in?"
"Yes." The secretary replied.
Eris marched straight into the base commander's office. Inside, she found him pacing back and forth anxiously, which was a bit unsettling. One thing about the base commander was that he was always calm, even for a Minotaur.
Although Minotaurs were stereotypically known for their short temperament and were a bit on the low side as far as intelligence was concerned, the base commander was one of the few exceptions who transcended their kind's reputation.
Falko wasn't anxious for no reason. His job has been a little troublesome lately. Ever since they started dealing with Raymond, things hadn't been going as planned; in fact, everything seems to fail.
Initially, he hadn't been involved in the first mission that required capturing Raymond to find out the source of what seemed to be illegal selling of magic portions. But they ended up capturing another Supernatural, a Centaur, to be precise. Further investigations later concluded the Centaur was Raymond's childhood friend.
While they were still trying to figure out where everything went wrong on a simple snatch-and-grab mission, his base was attacked. Enemies infiltrated the base and rescued the Centaur. In the aftermath, he had lost a few soldiers as well as a lot of the base's property was damage.
Everything connected to the main circuit; computers, lights, cameras, security system was fried. One of the blast doors was almost half-melted, dead soldiers, and most importantly, they had lost the Centaur.
When this news reached him, he was furious. He wanted to immediately start a manhunt for Raymond regardless of the cost, but he received orders from above to cease all hostility against Raymond. This forced him to swallow a bitter pill and accept that his spotless reputation among his peers would forever be stained by Raymond.
Over time things went back to normal. They had to a lot of repairs, including replacing new equipment, a transformer, the main circuit, and a team of Nymphs was even brought to set up a new barrier spell. But soon after, a new assignment came.
There was a human who was asking too many questions. Usually, that wouldn't bother them, but this human seemed to have some authority and would definitely be a problem.
The base had sent one of its numerous assassins, but it had been two days, and there was no word about the assignment. Usually, this situation wouldn't have warranted his attention, but the person who ordered the hit was a goddess. As far as he was concerned, this mission too failed, and now the goddess was standing in front of him.
Falko now had three failures on his record, and he wanted nothing more than to let out his frustrations on Raymond—the cause of everything— but he had to remain calm.
Being calm after all that.
This was a trait that his kind barely possessed, and it took him decades to achieve. Falko took a deep breath in and let it out before he stopped his pacing.
"The mission has failed." There was no need to beat around the bush.
"Did you send a follow-up team?" Eris inquired without taking a seat.
"Yes, but they found no trail. I'll be sending in a tracking team to investigate." Falko said.
Once a mission failed, they would usually send up a follow-up team to investigate. If nothing was found, then they would employ specialized means to track and uncover any intelligence before deciding the way forward.
"When will this be done?" Eris asked.
"Tonight, I should have results by tomorrow."
"Good, I'll be waiting." She added before leaving. After dealing with his partner's disappearance problem, Eris drove back home to decide her next step.
While she was never attached to her work nor the city, Argo had grown on her, and now she had to leave it all behind. Starting all over again in a new city was going to be a headache. With each passing day, fooling humans became more and more difficult. Even if she erased her virtual presence, people would still recognize her. She doubted her colleagues would stop looking for her once she disappears.
Naturally, as a lesser goddess, she wouldn't have trouble being welcomed by other Olympians, but her banished status and what she was, made it almost impossible to socialize with other Olympians. Her other solution was to leave the planet, but the universe was too vast, and as an immortal, life alone sucked.
Pulling up into her driveway, she caught a familiar scent. Eris felt a little strange, and for a moment, she didn't know what to do. The scent was Kyle's, and judging by its intensity, Eris knew he was still inside her house.
A sudden smile appeared on her face as an idea popped into her head. Since she was leaving anyway, maybe she should leave Athena a present. She deserved it.
Getting out of the car, Eris's demeanor immediately changed. Millennia of suppressed powers suddenly burst forth. Her divinity washed over her, and her body began to transform. Her height increased by several inches, and her long flowing black hair turned into red wavy hair that reached her waist.
Her, pupils thinned, and her eyes glowed yellow. Her face contorted and slowly changed into her original appearance; high cheekbones complimented by sharp angular features. Her clothes were ripped apart and the tatters burnt to ashes.
An invisible godly power pulsated from her body and spread throughout the whole neighborhood. Many humans were stricken. By the time she was done transforming, Eris was completely naked. Her body brimmed with divine power; this was her divine form.
Eris confidently walked into her house.