Cairo International Airport-
The agents of SHIELD had sealed off the entire airport. Scientists were examining the hole that had appeared in the middle of the runway. Yusuf was the one in charge of this case.
"This hole looks like it was dug up from the inside." One of the scientists was talking to his colleagues. "I wonder how much strength it would require to dig up all that sand, rocks, and the tarmac that thick."
"So, it was dug from the inside?" Yusuf walked up to that scientist and asked.
"Yes, sir! But we can't scan the ground, our equipment is malfunctioning, we are having a problem scanning, some kind of electromagnetic interference. We may have to excavate these ruins for more study." The scientist answered.
"Then what are you waiting for? Start digging." Yusuf ordered. The man nodded and ran off. "What about the victims? How did they die?" He turned to another agent.
"Yes, there were 7 victims. We found one near the toilet. The cause of death is unknown; there are no wounds on their bodies. They just died." The agent answered.
"What about the witnesses, what did they say?"
"All the witnesses have the same report, sir. These victims were killed by the Mummy. There was another man with it. He was wearing a black suit with a red tie; he had a crystal ball in his hand. They said that the Mummy grabbed them by the throats and pulled their souls out." The agent reported.
"Pulled their souls out?"
"Yes, we have footage" He held up the datapad, "it's from the camera outside the toilet." The video showed a man in a black suit, he was indeed holding a crystal ball. It was glowing yellow. The Mummy was standing behind him. The man in the black suit opened the door and gestured to Mummy to enter. The Mummy entered the toilet followed by the man. A moment later a man came out running. He slipped and fell. The Mummy burst through the door and grabbed the man by his neck. The man in the black suit handed it the orb, the Mummy grabbed it and touched to the victim's chest. The ball glowed brightly for a second and the victim stopped moving."
"The man in the black suit, he's Dr. Alexi Skarab." The agent pushed some buttons and the biodata of the man appeared on the screen. "He's an archaeologist. He was one of the archeologists that went mad after opening one of the tombs in the valley of kings two years ago. He was sent to the asylum but was released after only three months on a full recovery. He tried to rejoin the excavation of that tomb but got refused. After that, there was no trace of him until now. We searched more about it and found him near the same tomb just a few days before the sandstorm began." She opened an image on the datapad which showed Dr. Skarab exiting his car.
"Alright, we have a lead, take a team and search his address, you!" He called another agent, "find anything you can about Dr. Skarab and that tomb. And get me on the line with the Commander Hill."
0-0
"What is he yelling about?" Herc asked.
"I don't know. Anyway, what are we doing with these guys; we are here for the Ennead not some Sherlock Holmes case." Gil said.
"I agree, we should go and search for them ourselves," Perseus said.
"I understand, but do you know where to find them?" Percy asked Herc shook his head. "Right, we don't have any clue where they might be. But I have an idea. The mummy that escaped. The gods of death don't like it when the dead walk the earth right?" Perseus and Gil nodded. "That means the Egyptian God of Death won't like this either, so he'll come after the Mummy."
"If we get to the Mummy before Anubis, we find our gods. You are really smart Percy." Herc said.
'Annabeth would be surprised that I came up with a plan.' Percy thought. He missed her.
Somewhere in Cairo-
Dr. Alexi Skarab was driving a car and the Mummy was sitting in the back seat.
"You know, I never actually imagined you would be this strong. After all these years I thought you would be weak, your muscles, your tissues should've rotten but whatever he did to you kept you in shape for all these years. I wish I could get my hands on that concoction, find out its secret. I could get a Nobel prize for this." He said.
"Hrmm!" The Mummy growled.
"Ah...! You must be dying to talk." He glanced back at the Mummy and burst out laughing.
0-0
Percy, Perseus, Gil, and Yusuf were in one SUV, Yusuf was driving. They were tracking a lead to the Pyramids of Giza. As they were closing in on the Great Pyramid, suddenly someone in black robes appeared in the middle of the road. The convoy screeched to a stop. The person was wearing a hood and staring at the ground his face was hidden.
Agents quickly got off and aimed their guns at the mysterious person. Yusuf walked in front. "Hello? Sir, Madam? Whoever you are please remove your hood so we can see your face and yeah, please state your business." He said.
The hooded figure slowly looked up. Its face was completely covered by shadows; only its glowing red eyes were visible. The agents aiming their guns were shaking in fear; some of them dropped their guns and ran away like scared rabbits. Others were frozen in fear in their places.
The figure stepped forward. Percy and the Gang stepped out of the vehicles. The figure stopped in front of Herc. "Hercules!" It said.
"Anubis!" Herc acknowledged him.
"You seek the audience with Horus?" He asked.
"We do, it's a matter of grave importance." Herc snorted and tried to hide his smirk, "can you take us to him? Or just tell us where to find him and we'll be on our way." he asked.
"I will take you to him, but first you must do something for me," Anubis said.
"Not the Mummy, not the Mummy." Gil prayed.
"There is a being roaming on this land. It has a very powerful relic in its possession. You must capture the being alive and the relic; if you are successful I will grant you an audience with Horus." Anubis said.
"Damn it!" Gil cursed.
"What is that relic?" Percy asked.
"Go now, you will find him near the Sphinx," Anubis said and disappeared in the shadows.
"I never liked that guy, always acting creepy. Even Hades thought he was creepy, Hades!" Herc said.
"So, that was Anubis, huh! I thought he had a jackal head." Yusuf tried to release the tension.
0-0
The convoy stopped in the parking lot near the Great Sphinx. The stone wall underneath the face of the Sphinx had been broken. It revealed a metallic door that was open. A couple of agents went in first, a couple of minutes later their screams were heard on the comms and a moment later they went silent.
"Don't send anyone, we'll go ourselves," Percy said to Yusuf.
"I can't let you go alone and unarmed."
"Who said about going alone and unarmed?" Percy conjured the Riptide.
"Fine, but I'm coming with you."
Percy, Herc, Gil, Perseus, and Yusuf went through the door.
The metallic door opened in a long dark hallway. The Riptide started to glow faintly. As the group crept ahead they heard footsteps ahead. Yusuf raised his gun pointed the flashlight ahead of them. In the hallway, the agent that went in was standing with his back to them.
"Agent Tariq?" Yusuf asked.
In response, the agent turned. The group saw that the agent's jaw was dislodged, broken, and bleeding; a knife was embedded in his heart. His eyes showed no signs of life; he had become one of the undead. The agent pulled the knife out of his chest and charged towards the group. Yusuf fired his gun at him, but the undead agent didn't even slow down. Perseus quickly stepped in front and beheaded the undead agent with his Gladius.
The group left the body of the undead agent behind and continued their journey. The hallway ended with stairs leading down in a great hall lit by wall-mounted torches and braziers. They were in the belly of the Sphinx.
At the bottom of the stairs was the other agent sent earlier. He had also become one of the undead. As he saw the group walking down the stairs he let out a horrifying cry. Percy glanced at the room and noticed shadows moving on the floor.
These weren't shadows, but more undead, hundreds of them. They responded to the undead agent's cry. These undead were wielding all sorts of weapons including swords, spears, daggers, weird curved blades, staves, and many more. They all charged at the group.
0-0
Percy was cutting through the undead army like a hot knife through butter. As he was mowing down the enemy he noticed in the middle of the hall a flight of stairs leading to an elevated platform.
On the platform, he saw the Mummy standing tall. Dr. Skarab looked scared; he stumbled back as the Mummy advanced. Percy dashed towards the platform cutting down undead left and right. He jumped from the bottom of the stairs and landed on the platform, he quickly rolled and hid behind a statue.
"...Please! Please! I don't want to die! He promised me that I would be rewarded for bringing him back."
"You were a fool to trust that man." That dry voice came from the Mummy.
"No! No! Don't kill me, please!" Dr. Skarab pleaded, "I will give you whatever you want just let me go.
"You cannot give me what I want. Nephrus took away my mortality; I need him to give it back to me. For that, you have to die." The Mummy said.
Percy came out from behind the statue to see the Mummy pulling out the soul of the Dr. Skarab with the crystal ball. He charged at the Mummy and stabbed it in the heart.
"You cannot kill me, human!" The mummy said. He grabbed Percy's wrist and threw him in the statue. He pulled the sword out of him and threw it on the ground.
He walked to the center of the platform and placed the orb on the pedestal shaped like a bird's claw.
"By the power of the Ra, I call Nephrusss. I sacrifice the souls of your descendants. Accept them and reborn."
The orb glowed and a white ball of light emerged from it. The ball of light floated in the air, above the orb for a second and entered the dead body of Dr. Skarab, a moment later he gasped loudly.
"I'm alive!" He spoke in ancient Egyptian language. Somehow Percy understood what he said. "N'cantu, you brought me back."
"Nephrus, I brought you back for one reason. You made me like this. You turned me into a Living Mummy. Because of you, I cannot die. Undo what you did to me." The Mummy said.
"Ah! I'm sorry to tell you but the experiment cannot be undone. I never intended to undo it; you were my first and only successful subject. After I locked you away I tried to recreate the concoction, but it was a failure. I was going to release you to remake the concoction, but before that happened I was murdered by the Pharaoh." He said.
"Then you have no use for me. Go back to the abyss which you came from." The mummy said and took a step towards Skarab.
"N'cantu, you are my servant, you cannot threaten me. I order you to stop." He said but the Mummy took another step.
It grabbed Skarab by his neck and lifted him off the ground. He was struggling to get free.
"Release me, you imbecile." He thrashed in vain.
"You do not control me, you never did. If you cannot give me death, then there is no need for you to live."
Percy was about to lunge at the Mummy when suddenly Anubis appeared out of the ground.
"N'cantu, stop! Release him!" He ordered.
As this was happening other members of the group had cleared out the zombie army and stopped behind Percy as they saw what was happening.
"Who are you?" The Mummy asked.
In answer, Anubis removed his hood. He grew up to 8 feet tall. A jackal head emerged out of the shadow on his face.
"Nephrus has broken a Law of the Gods. He fragmented his soul and tainted the Orb of Ra. He also used the Orb to return to life, the act forbidden by Osiris. He must be punished, hand him over to me." He said.
"No, no, no, no, no! Don't hand me over, please. Kill me! Kill me now! I did this to you; I took away your mortality. Because of me, you cannot die." Skarab looked scared; he pleaded and struggled to get free.
The Mummy looked at Skarab and threw him at Anubis. He grabbed Skarab by the throat and stared at him in the eye.
"No, please! Don't!" He pleaded with tears in his eyes.
Anubis clenched his hand and broke his neck. His body went limp as his life was snuffed out of him.
"N'cantu!" Anubis called, "you have also committed a sin. You used the Orb of Ra for a selfish reason, for that you must be punished. You seek death. I can give it to you, but you have to serve me, bring me the souls of the damned."
"If you can give me death, then I accept your servitude." N'cantu knelt before Anubis and both dissolved in shadows.
"Anubis, Stop! Take us to Horus." Herc shouted in vain as Anubis disappeared.
"You know, he's really shy about showing his face to so many people. I don't know why?" Yusuf suddenly blurted.
"What!" Percy exclaimed.
"He fulfilled his promise and granted you an audience with me. Horus! King of the Ennead." He said.
"Horus, you were with us all this time?" Gil asked.
"No, I just got here. I'm possessing Yusuf, I'm not here physically." Yusuf, no Horus said, "I know why you've come here. We felt the shifting of the Axis Mundi. We know it is now on Mt. Olympus. You came here to ask me to join the Council. I accept it, but there is one little problem. I cannot take the decision without talking to other members of the Ennead."
"Well then call them quickly," Percy said.
"You must be the young god I heard about, so impatient. As I said there is one little problem. All of the Enneads are present in the courtroom except one. You need him. Talk to him, see if he's willing to join, bring me the news and we'll talk further." Horus said.
"Which god is that?" Percy asked.
"Bast!" Horus answered.
To be Continued...!
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