AN: EDITED. A huge 'Thank you' to all my reviewers, especially you, Brunette! I really appreciate your constructive criticism. Don't worry, everything you said will be covered, I just won't say how! ;) Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The Mummy and its plot, characters, etc. is property of Director Stephen Sommers. The characters Maverick and William Caden, however, are of my own design.
Maverick's Mummy Misadventure
"Bye, Daddy," called seventeen-year-old 'Maverick' Caden to her father, William Caden, the American ambassador for Cairo.
"Have fun, honey," he called absentmindedly as she walked out of his office and into the busy streets. That's all he ever said, really; just 'have fun' as though she were five. Pistol-packing military brat or no, her father never cared where she went. She could have murdered all of Cairo if she so wished and he wouldn't have looked twice. But she was too used to it to complain. She had practically raised herself in the streets of Cairo, and didn't rely on her father ; he was always busy and never had time for her anyway. Still, it would be nice...
As Maverick flowed easily through the marketplace, headed for the Cairo Museum of Antiquities on the other side of the city, she shook her long, curly black hair from its braid, letting it fall to her lower back. If it wasn't for the fact she always wore American men's clothes (A fashion-crime even in 1926), her suntanned skin, black hair, brown eyes and perfect Arabic would've allowed her to blend effortlessly with the locals. But Maverick had gotten her name for a reason; everything she ever did was 'completely backwards to society's expectations', as a friend of hers once put it. She loved standing out from the crowd - she wanted to be different and wanted the whole world to know it. She didn't know how to conform to other's limits, so her inner child rebeled.
Suddenly, with a loud rumble, ominous black clouds rolled across the previously sapphire-blue Egyptian sky. Well, that's odd, Maverick mused, looking curiously up at the uncharacteristic clouds. Shrugging, Maverick brushed off the event, thinking it was only a rare, but always welcome, thunderstorm. As she continued on her way to the Museum, Maverick didn't notice the drunks at a local casbah raving that 'the wine has turned to blood'. Had she, and the next events may not have seemed so surprising. She had barely walked another five minutes before hearing a shrill whistle and the sky opened up a downpour of terror - fiery hail!
"Holy Mother!" Maverick cried, fleeing with the rest of Cairo from the deadly storm. As she dodged the flaming hail, Maverick heard an ungodly roar, so load it was as though all the demons of Hell were upon her. Terrified, Maverick ran as fast as she humanly could, finally bolting through the Museum doors.
As she headed towards the main room, where she was sure she would find the curator, Dr Bey, Maverick began to hear something. Voices? Stopping outside the door, trying to swallow here fear, Maverick listened in confusion as she heard Dr Bey speak,
"We are part of an ancient secret society. For over three thousand years we have guarded the City of the Dead. We are sworn at manhood to do any and all in our power to stop the High Priest Imhotep from being reborn into this world. " Ancient secret society? Dr Bey? What was 'The City of the Dead'? And who was 'we'?
"And now, because of you, we have failed." Maverick didn't recognize the deep voice that spoke. The English was perfect, but clearly was an Arab man; Maverick assumed that he was the other part to 'we'.
"And you think this justifies the killing of innocent people?" Wait, was that Evy Carnahan, the librarian? Maverick knew her very well; she always helped Maverick in her studies of Egyptology, her dream career (And was secretly envious of her). If Evy's here, her good-for-nothing drunkard brother, Jonathan , is too. Dr Bey spoke again.
"To stop this creature? Let me think…"Dr Bey and the mysterious Arab both answered with a firm, exasperated "Yes!" After a few more moments, Maverick grew sick of listening to the maddening discussion and threw open the door to the main room.
"Dr Bey!" she cried, her hair falling over one shoulder. She quickly surveyed the scene. Evy was standing with her back to the door, to the left of a caramel-haired man sitting on an antique chair. To Evy's right was Jonathan, standing in a replica Tutankhamun chariot. Directly across from them were two men; one was also sitting and had dirty blonde hair, and the other, with dark brown hair, was standing to his left. In the center of it all, slightly in front of Jonathan, was Dr Bey, also seated on an antique. To his left was a tall, dark, and, in Maverick's opinion, quite handsome Arab with prayer tattoos on his cheeks and wearing long black Bedouin-style robes. Everyone had turned to stare at her.
"Who the hell is she?" the blonde man asked just as Jonathan and Evy had cried,
"Maverick!" . Maverick gave them her trademark cocky, playful grin.
"Hey, guys," she greeted before turning to everyone else. "Now before you all ask; I've been here since the 'secret society' line; no, I will not go home; yes, this concerns me; what I want is answers and no, I won't stop until I get them."
"How do you do that, Mav!?" Jonathan gaped. She smirked.
"Pure talent, Jonny."
"What the hell makes you think you have the right to know?" the caramel haired man demanded. Maverick forced himself to ignore him, turning to the curator.
"Well, Doc?" Before he could speak, Evy and Jonathan jumped in, quickly telling Maverick the whole confusing tale. They knew when Maverick said she wouldn't leave until she had answers, she meant every cocky word. She was persistent that way. Maverick took a deep breathe, and attempted to make sense of what she had just heard.
"Okay: Carnahan's go with O'Connell," she began to retell, gesturing to the caramel-haired man, "to the City of the Dead, a.k.a. Hamunaptra. Henderson and Daniels," Maverick continued nodding to the blonde and brunette, respectively, "along with some friends, go too. O'Connell and friends find a mummy, Henderson's group find The Book of the Dead. Evy reads from the Book and brings The Creature to life. The Creature wants to destroy the world. To do that, he's got to kill Henderson's group, one of which, he already has. Throughout all of this, Dr Bey's buddies, the Medjai, were supposed to stop them, but couldn't, and now we've got a killer mummy on the loose. Oh yeah, and he wants to kill Evy to bring his dead girlfriend back to life. Is that the gist of things?" Maverick finished and was met with nods and several repetitions of 'yeah, that's about it'. Maverick gave Evy a sad smile, trying not to show her own fear.
"Bad news bared for you, Evy," she sighed.
"On the contrary, Miss Caden," Dr Bey mused, standing, "It may just give us the time we need to kill the creature." As he spoke, the Arab men, who's name she didn't know, paced slowly forward, staring up at the skylight.
"We will need all the help we can get. His powers are growing." At this, everyone stood to see the sun being eclipsed by the moon.
" 'And he stretched forth his hand towards the heavens,' "Jonathan quoted from the Bible, " ' and there was darkness throughout the land of Egypt.' "Maverick heard the Arab's words echoing in her head.
His powers are growing…
His powers are growing… As she stared up at the dark circle that used to be the sun, Maverick felt her stomach turn to cold lead.
Why do I get the feeling that this whole terrible misadventure isn't over? For that, she had no answer.
So what say you, fans? Continue? Leave as is? Let me know; reviews are love!
~IloveBumbleBee2009