Disclaimer: "I do not own any part of the Mummy franchise. Wish I did, because those first two movies were awesome. But I don't. All credit for quotes and scenes taken from the movie, go to the writers, producers, directors, etc. I own only Alexandra Taren, and any original content that I make her do or say. That is all."
Chapter 1
It should first be understood that Alex is not like her cousin. That idea should be cleared from your minds straight away. She's not book smart. She can't 'speak' Egyptian. She just can't ever seem to put the syllables, or vowels, or any of it in the right order for speech for some reason. She never speaks it right. She can write and read it. She can translate into English, but she just can't speak it in the original language of the Egyptians.
What she lacks in bookish knowledge though, she makes up for in her skill with weaponry. Oh, yes. Where Evie's fighting skills are limited to maybe knocking a bookshelf over on top of someone to crush them, Alex knows several different fighting styles and skills. Even after her parents died and she came to live with Evie and Jonathon, she kept on studying how to fight and defend herself.
Guns, swords, bow and arrows, karate, kung fu, and basically any other style she could find. She's also turned out to be rather inventive. When she was eleven she made a homemade explosive out of things she found in the pantry of their house. She blew it up outside of course, but it still left a nasty burn mark on the pavement in the driveway.
Anyway, point is, she's not Evie. She doesn't wear skirts or dresses. She wears pants and boots. Sure, her blouses are nice when she wears them properly, but most of the time she has the top four buttons left open so air can reach her skin. Her shirt almost always ends up off, leaving her in a tank top that shows off the tattoo on the back between her shoulder blades. A beautifully crafted compass, with the words wrapping around it, 'Not all who wander are lost'.
Her brown hair isn't curly like Evie's, and her blue eyes are dark and get even darker when she's pissed. And beneath her shirt are scars from the attack the night her parents were murdered and she had been left for dead. Not that she doesn't have a scar on her right arm that reaches from her shoulder to her collar bone, but the ones on her sides and stomach are more gruesome still.
She's not Evie. She's Alexandra Taren.
That being said, Alex's presence in the library could almost always be as assured of a fact as Evie's. Alex's jobs in the city however, by comparison, weren't as… let's say prestigious as Evie's was. Jonathon's occupation was gambling. Not really an occupation, obviously, but when it became apparent that Alex wasn't going to let anyone in any of the places he went actually hurt him, it surprisingly opened some opportunities for her. More because the owners figured, if they couldn't beat her, they should just hire her.
She worked as a bouncer for some pubs and local gambling arenas. When she wasn't doing that, she also taught self-defense classes at night. She usually let the students choose the venue, and she just showed up when they had decided.
Obviously not the steadiest of income, but she did make good money. And with Evie working at the Museum of Antiquities, together they always pooled together more than enough to support both themselves and Jonathon when he needed a hand.
On this particular morning, however, even with all of this taken into account... Alex is sad to say that she hadn't been at the library when Evie had knocked down, literally, all of the book shelves in the museum. Alex was only just coming in now, watching as the curator, Dr. Bey, walks around the room in distress.
He looks up upon seeing her enter the room, and he points and says, "That cousin of yours…" "Is a wonderful person indeed." "She…" "Doctor, please remember who you're talking to."
She had told him once before, when he'd yelled at Evie in front of her, that she would just as soon break him in half, as she would listen to him talk about his precious museum, or about how awful Evie was for help. Evie might slip up now and again, but she was also the best employee Dr. Bey had. In fact, one of the only employees he had at the moment. He couldn't afford to get rid of her, and therefore could afford to pay her a tiny bit of respect and sympathy.
Alex looks around the room as he tries to come up with some other retort. Then she shrugs, "And seriously? You set up all the shelves in a circle like dominoes. You didn't expect this to happen some day when you did that?"
She leaves him at that, going into the back to try and find Evie. She'd expected to find her upset and maybe crying. Alex knew that her cousin's request to join the Bembridge Scholars had been denied yet again. Something about not enough field experience.
Which was Dr. Bey's fault, in Alex's mind. But she kept that to herself because she knew that Evie, in spite of everything else, did hold the man in high regard.
But when she found Evie, Jonathon was already with her. As Alex came to their side to see what they were doing, Evie asks as she turns a little trinket around in her hands, "Where did you get this?" Jonathon tries to play it off casually, "On a dig, down in Thebes."
Alex raises an eyebrow at him, to which he quickly averts his gaze. To Evie, he could get away with some lies. Not with Alex though. She could see right through him.
Instead of berating him though, seeing as how he had managed to pull Evie out of her funk with whatever it was, Alex kept her mouth shut and watched as Evie inspected the little box. Jonathon scoots closer and says, "My whole life, I've never found anything Evie. Please tell me I've found something."
And then Evie, very carefully pushing in on a few particular points, manages to snap the little box open, revealing a folded piece of parchment inside. "Jonathon?" "Yes Evie?" "I think you've found something."
Alex looks to the box, to the paper, and then at her two cousins, who are currently just staring at the thing in fascination. Then she can't help grinning when they jump as she breaks the spell of silence by asking bluntly, "Great! What the hell is it?"
Of course, the parchment didn't matter in the end. Not because it wasn't valuable; but because Dr. Bey 'accidentally' burnt it. And more specifically, burnt off the part locating the lost city.
Dr. Bey had squirmed so much in his seat that, though Evie was tempted to stop her, she didn't actually try to make Alex stop glaring at the man. If Alex was pissed at him, it more than likely meant Alex had a high suspicion that he hadn't done it on accident. He'd burnt it on purpose.
Though Evie couldn't honestly understand why he would've done that, and told Alex as much. But Alex was insistent. Looking over at Evie, she says, "A three thousand year old parchment detailing a path and location for the lost city of the dead, and your precious curator didn't even bat an eyelash of concern when he 'accidentally' burnt it and tossed it to the ground? Yeah. It was totally by mistake."
Turning to face forward again, following Jonathon as he leads them into a market in the city, she adds, "He's hiding something. I have no idea what, but he's hiding something. I don't trust him." "You never have!" "And obviously with good reason."
Evie just laughs, and then pauses when Jonathon finally finds the warden who can take them to see the person he'd 'borrowed' the little box from. In a prison.
Great.
Evie's mouth drops open a little before she says, "You told me that you got it on a dig down in Thebes." "Yeah, well, I was mistaken." "You lied to me Jonathon!"
Alex rolls her eyes and says, "You're honestly surprised." Jonathon gives Alex a pitiful look, to which she concedes, "Still love you. But I knew it was a lie." Jonathon smiles at her, and then says to Evie, "Besides, I lie to everyone. What makes you so special?" "I am your sister!" "Yes, well, that just makes you more gullible. Unlike Alex here, who somehow has a truth detector wired into her nervous system or some sort."
Alex grins at that, and then as Jonathon tries to steer them away from the place, reminding them both that he picked a man's pocket to get the box in the first place, she grabs his arm and jerks him back around.
Evie sighs in relief at having Alex on her side, especially in a place like this. Neither herself nor Jonathon were exactly comfortable in a place like this. Jonathon was good for gambling and drinking. He was not so much up for the visiting of prisons in the harsher parts of the city. But Alex…
Well, Alex had never really been afraid of much of anything, not as long as Evie had known her. It's why, though Jonathon and Evie feel very much out of place, Alex walked around the yard as if she had already been here countless times before. Even though she had never set foot here in her entire life. She only had a couple of true fears that Evie could tell, and they were ones that she felt no one could fault Alex for having, given her circumstances.
Anyways, back to the current situation, Evie says to Jonathon as Alex hauls him onward, "Honestly Jonathon. Stop being so ridiculous." And then to the man leading the way in, Evie asks, "What exactly is this man in prison for?" The warden turns to them, "Well, this I did not know. But when I heard you were coming, I asked him that myself." "And what did he say?" "He said he was just looking for a good time."
The man they're here to see, who is struggling enough that it takes at least three other men to drag him out into the gated yard, has shaggy and scraggily hair, tattered clothes and prison chains on his wrists and ankles. And as they shove him to the bars, he glares out at them for a moment, teeth bared.
He looks like a man ready to break necks. He also looks like a man whose been wronged. At least, that's what he looks like to Alex. Most people probably only see the scraggily and frightening looking man. Alex sees the fighter he must be. There's also something about him. Something in his eyes. Like he had seen entirely too much death to even really still be alive at this point.
It was a quality she recognized, because it was one she shared with him.
He was a strong individual, probably both mentally and physically. And while Evie and Jonathon kind of edged away from the cage, Alex stayed her ground and met his harsh gaze, which he continued to give for a moment even as he was knocked to his knees.
Jonathon is trying to urge Evie away, but Alex is still holding his arm, ensuring he remains. The man's eyes finally find hers, and he seems to relax a little. Softening his gate and dropping his hands from where he'd been gripping the bars, he asks, "Who are you?"
Jonathon turns, having been the one addressed. Then the man looks at Alex again, "And who are you?" Then he looks to Evie, "And who's the broad?"
Evie frowns deeply at him and asks, "Broad?" Alex makes a tsk sound with her tongue and mutters, "Strike one." The man looks at her, and maybe a smirk plays at his lips. If he weren't in prison, Alex could see herself being a good friend with the man.
Jonathon then steps up and says, "Well, I… I… uh… I'm just a local sort of missionary chap, spreading the good word. This is my sister Evie." He pulls Evie closer, hoping to deflect some of the man's now undivided attention. Evie nods to him and says, "How do you do?"
The man looks to her for a moment, and then says, "Yeah well. Guess she's not a total loss." "I beg your pardon!" Alex sucks a sharp breath in through her teeth and while trying to hide a laugh says, "Strike two." He turns to her, now a genuine smile on his face as he asks, "And who are you?" "Alex. Cousin to both of them. Pleasure." "Wish I could say the same, but given the circumstances…" "Yeah, I get it."
The warden suddenly shouts and Alex rolls her eyes before glancing to watch him leave. Evie, taking Jonathon's advice, moves a little closer to the bars now that the warden is preoccupied, and says, "We have found… Um… hello, excuse me, sir? We all found your… your puzzle box, and we've come to ask you about it."
The man takes a moment to just look at all of them carefully, and then leans back and says, "No." Evie frowns, "No?" "No. You came to ask me about Hamunaptra."
Alex raises an eyebrow at him, and then smirks a little and says, "Backing up to just strike one." The man chuckles, and then turns to Evie when she asks quietly, "How do you know the box pertains to Hamunaptra?" "Because that's where I was when I found it. I was there."
Jonathon, apparently feeling tougher now, what with the bars between them and Alex standing at his side, comes even closer, in the man's face almost, and then asks, "How do we know that's not a load of pig's wallow?" "You know… do I know you?" Jonathon offers a light laugh, "Oh no, no. I've just got one of those faces…"
And then, as the man remembers where he knows Jonathon from, and apparently figures out just how they got the box in the first place, he punches Jonathon square in the jaw, hard enough even through the bars and with cuffs on, to knock him out and on the ground. Alex stares for a moment, a humorous grin lighting her face. Sure, Jonathon was family, but he'd most definitely had that coming.
She jerks herself back to attention though as one of the guards hits the man in the back as punishment, but before the guard can do it again, Alex shouts, "Hey!" The guard freezes, Alex's fierce gaze seemingly stopping him mid-swing. She then gestures to Jonathon and says, "Trust me. He probably deserves a lot worse. Chill out. Geez."
The man in chains sighs, a little relieved, and nods to her in appreciation. And then he can't help but smirk when she says, "Back to no strikes by the way. You are on a roll."
Evie then steps over Jonathon and asks in amazement, "You were actually at Hamunaptra?"
The smile that comes over the man's face tells Alex that he has suddenly come up with a plan. What exactly that is, she has no idea. But a plan, nonetheless. And as he and Evie go back and forth for a moment, she wonders at what exactly he thinks he could do right now that would help better his own situation at the moment.
Then he motions for Evie to come closer, as though about to tell her a secret. And that's when he grabs her chin and kisses her full on the mouth. Alex stares for a moment at her cousin, who she thinks has maybe only been kissed two other times in her whole life. Neither times worth mentioning or keeping a real record of.
When he lets her go, the man says, "Then get me the hell out of here!"
It takes three guards again, just to get him back inside. And even as he's being shut behind the door, Alex nods to herself and says aloud, "I like him." Evie glances over at her, and then asks desperately, "Where are they taking him?" The warden, back from whoever he'd been yelling at, says, "To be hanged. Apparently… he had a very good time!" Alex gives him a glare, and then turns to meet Evie's desperate gaze. They need that man, regardless of anything else Evie may or may not like about him. And at the nod Alex gives her, Evie relaxes from her distraught state. Alex might not know right away how they were going to get the man out. But once again, Alex was on her side. So the odds of actually getting it done practically quadrupled, compared to when she was trying to solve the problem alone.
Grabbing the warden by the scruff of his collar before he can just walk away, Alex hauls him back so he's standing with them again. He seems stunned that she has the strength to drag him back at all, but before he can comment, Alex says, "Take us with you." "Absolutely not. It's…"
He stops when Alex's hardened gaze meets his, and Evie smiles. If it could be said that humans could have superpowers, then Alex would have the power of making people do what she wanted. It was a power she used only when necessary. And at other times, she'd occasionally use it simply because Evie or Jonathon needed it from her. Like right now, when Evie needs help making sure they have a chance to save the only man they know who can get them to Hamunaptra.
The warden looks like he might try to argue again, but Alex tilts her head and narrows her eyes, so he quickly says, "Fine, fine. This way."
Alex nods, and then grabs Evie by the hand and pulls her along. "What about Jonathon?" Alex shrugs, "We'll get him on the way out, Evie. Come on."
Upon sitting down in the gallery to watch the hanging, Evie starts immediately trying to bargain for the man's life. One hundred pounds. Two hundred pounds. Three hundred pounds. When she finally reaches five hundred pounds, the warden tells them to pause. But then he asks, "And what else? I'm a very lonely man."
His hand reaches her thigh the same time Evie slams her book on his fingers. And if that weren't enough, Alex smacks him in the back of the head hard enough to nearly send him flying from the second story perch they're currently sitting on. The crowd laughs and the warden, embarrassed and angry, orders them to drop the man they need to save. "NO!"
Alex pushes Evie back into her seat when her cousin stands and screams. Watching closely, she notices the man clenching his muscles, particular those in his neck and jaw. And when he drops, though there is a horrid snapping sound, it comes from the rope itself, and not the man. Patting Evie's shoulder, she says, "He's alright. Work fast."
Evie honestly can't think of anything else though, and the warden isn't up for taking any higher offers simple cash. So Alex finally says, "He knows the location of Hamunaptra." The warden swivels around instantly while Evie shows her wide eyes. Alex just shrugs and then says to her, "You want to get there at all? We need him." So Evie turns back to the warden, hardening herself so she doesn't get swindled while trying to save the man they need, and begins at, "We'll give you ten percent." "Fifty." "Twenty." "Forty." "Thirty." "Twenty-five."
Alex smirks at the warden's last offer, "Now that's what I call a deal." He seems to realize he duped himself, and it was clear he was pondering if he could go back to thirty at least. But as the sound of swiftly moving steel catches his attention, he turns to see Alex holding a dagger in her hands. Her eyes were narrowed on him, like a lioness watching every single move of the prey she was about to kill for dinner. Bartering with the man was obviously their better option. But there was no mistaking the look Alex was giving him. She would kill him, free the man, and find a way out of here before anyone could do anything about it. And judging from the grip she was putting on the knife, he was running out of time to make the decision for himself. Alex didn't need him. She just needed the man who knew how to get to Hamunaptra.
With a final whine of disappointment, the warden finally tells the men below to cut the rope. And as he hits the ground and starts breathing full breaths of air again, their new friend looks up at the gallery to see them. Evelyn nods down to him, quite pleased with the fact that they managed to pull this off. It was obvious that, at first, the man hadn't actually thought they'd be able to do it.
Then he looks over at Alex, who slips her dagger back into place at her waist. Wrapping an arm around Evie's shoulders, she grins, "Now that is what I call an intense negotiation. Very nice." "You think so?" "A year ago you would've let him have fifty, no arguments whatsoever. I'm impressed."
And then they both grin and laugh when the warden, having heard Alex's last comment, shouts, "WHAT?!"
Rick, as they come to find out he is called, meets them after his chains are removed and the rope taken from around his neck. He looks to Alex first, maybe about to thank her. The fact that she'd been holding her knife before he'd been released led him to believe she was the bigger reason he was still alive. Bu Alex just points a finger at Evie before then moving to the side and standing watch over them. Like a sentry, if Rick had to pick a word for it.
After thanking Evie for saving his neck, and a little more discussion on the topic of getting to this lost city that apparently wasn't so 'lost' after all, Rick agrees to meet them at the Giza Port to board a boat that will take them further into Egypt. And within a two days ride, he will get them to Hamunaptra.
Jonathon seems dubious about taking Rick at his word at first, but Alex simply comes forward, shakes his hand, and says, "See you tomorrow then." He gives her a firm nod in return, smiling at the way she doesn't question whether or not they can trust him. The other two were clearly still wary of him, but Alex seemed to have already made up her mind that she was going to believe what he had to say.
On their way out of the market, finally getting rid of the warden for now, Jonathon asks in surprise, "So what? We just let him go on his merry way, without anything? No address or number to look up in case he doesn't show? How do we know…" "He'll show." "How do you know that Alex?"
She turns to him, her eyes slightly harsh, but she says calmly, "Because he values his word the same way that I value mine. He made a deal with Evie that if she got him down, he would get her to Hamunaptra. We held up our end. He won't let his down. It's not in his nature." Turning to continue heading them for home, glaring down a swindler on the side of the street who had been thinking about trying to approach them, Alex then says to them, "So I suggest we all get a good night's sleep. Looks like tomorrow is going to be the start of a rather busy few weeks up ahead."
When they first arrived at the dock, even though Alex did already trust Rick more than she did Dr. Bey, Evie was still fuming over the fact that they needed him at all. She'd had time to think about it more now. Which honestly, Alex considers to be a bad thing. Evie had a tendency to overthink things more often than not. It was usually what helped her become as intelligent as she already was, her mind constantly on the move and her thirst for knowledge never ending. But in this particular case, it gave her more time to think about the scraggily, smelly, previously arrested man that they were allowing to lead them on this expedition.
In spite of what his previous first impression had tried to say about him though, when he approaches them from behind and asks if Evie is talking about anyone he might know... well, Evelyn had to do a double take. And yeah, Alex will admit it too. When the man wasn't in a prison cell, where accommodations were clearly lacking, Rick cleaned up exceptionally nice. Gone were the worn clothes and long hair. Gone was the dirt and grime. His hair was cut and he was clean, and he was dressed in what Alex considered a sort of militia type uniform.
Certainly not a man that appeared to belong in a prison. And definitely a man that Alex is happy to know. Not to mention the fact that Evie is obviously taken with him when she realizes he's not some abusive caveman type of person like he had seemed at the prison. Alex decides to remind her later that in prison, you don't get decide what you wear, when you cut your hair, or if you even get to bathe. And given the fighting nature they'd already seen, Alex would bet hard money that Rick made it hard for the officers in the prison to so much as take an eye off of him, lest he end up breaking out... or breaking one of them in half. So yeah, it wasn't completely his fault that he'd been shown to them in such a state. It was more the warden's fault, for being a coward.
And Alex decides she definitely will need to inform Evie of that later. Because she's literally so stunned by Rick's new appearance, that she nearly drops her bags on the ground at the sight of him. Or... well, maybe that's simply because of the crush she's quickly developing for this man. Not that Alex doesn't think he's a nice-looking man. Strapping and strong and clearly not afraid of much. All of that is good. But he's not her type. She's not sure why, considering any man she ended up with was definitely going to have to have those qualities... but this one is not for her.
Which is honestly all well and good, seeing how Evie watches after him as Rick grabs her bags for her and carries them onto the boat. Smirking, Alex moves to stand beside Evie while Jonathon says, "Yes, yes, you're right. Filthy, rude, complete scoundrel, nothing to like there at all." Evie gives him a look, and then laughs helplessly when Alex says playfully, "I fully expect this is going to be a wonderful trip. Full of danger, mummies, and maybe even a little romance." "Honestly Alex!"
She just grins at Evie, and then says, "Come on. Or this boat will leave without us."
Chapter 1! Yay!
Just some FYI stuff down here. First of all, if you're reading this, thank you for reading. Second of all, if you've read my stuff before, then you know I usually post my stories to their completion fairly quickly. That will not be the case with this one. The way I originally typed it, as all one document, needs to be broken apart. And some of the chapters need some work before they're ready for upload and posting. So this story will be posted slower than the others I usually do. Hopefully still pretty quick... but I make no promises on when each chapter will go up. So in that respect, I also thank you for your patience.
Also, I feel the need to point out that I have, yet again, created an overly protective character for this story. At some point, I'll attempt to try and shake things up. But when I do usually come up with my characters, somehow, most of them end up with at least a little bit of that quality. What can I say? It's kind of what makes me love them.
Anyways, this story will span the first and second mummy movies. I'm not going into the third, because I don't like it as much, and Ardeth isn't even in that one. But I love the first two movies, and so this one story will span both of them. And I hope you enjoy it!
