C5: The return of the creature

Aida had been to the museum a few times with everyone else and she loved it during the daytime. She especially loved the décor and the warm, friendly atmosphere but at night, when no one was around and she knew there was a chance for death at every corner…suddenly, the place didn't seem so inviting.

The ominous weather wasn't helping either, with rumbling thunder or the occasional flash of lightning. It was very much like she was living her own horror movie. Quietly, they made their way through, silently communicating where it was clear and how quick to go. She thought they'd spend the time this way, saying nothing to one another and she was perfectly comfortable with that. But apparently, Ardeth was not.

Rick moved a few feet ahead down a hallway and Ardeth moved closer to her side.

"So…what have you been doing?"

Aida stopped and looked curiously at him. Surely he wasn't…

'Oh Gods, he's trying to make small talk.'

She blinked at him a few times before shaking her head.

"Ardeth, now probably ISN'T the best time."

He nodded and looked ahead, but she could see the tightness in his jaw. He obviously cared enough to ask her, and she'd dismissed him AND…if they didn't get out of this alive or at the very least, unscathed, then they probably wouldn't have time again.

They continued to walk, and she cleared her throat.

"I've, well…I've been working for Evy and Rick and we all live together. I also do a few odd jobs outside my house," she decided to be brave and let out something he possibly already knew, "I have a daughter. She lives with me also."

'No shit, Sherlock.'

Ardeth seemed to be concentrating on something in the dark, but he was obviously listening to her.

"The girl at the house?"

Aida couldn't bring herself to look at him. She kept her gun raised but felt her hands shake.

"Yes," she gulped nervously, "she's called Amina."

"That is a good name. My youngest sister is called Amina."

"I had a friend back in Egypt. I decided to name her after them," she felt herself growing hot. Every statement or question about Amina brought her closer and closer to blurting out that it was his daughter.

"So Amina is she-"

"Shh. Here," Rick interrupted and waved them forward, and honestly, Aida had never been so relieved he liked to interrupt people. Had Ardeth pried any more about her heritage, then she would have blurted out everything.

They moved again through the dark building, the shadows playing tricks on them and making them point their guns in the wrong direction. They went up a set of steps, turned into a large, familiar room and Aida whispered quietly, more to herself than to the others.

"The Egyptian exhibit. Of course."

"It is strange," Ardeth kept his voice low and looked around at the exhibits on display with a stern expression, "what you consider to be archaeology can also be called grave robbing."

Rick snorted and luckily, found the funny side of it all.

"I call Evy a fancy grave robber all the time. She hates it."

"She hates it more since you taught Alex to start saying it," she looked at the mummies in their open tombs and shuddered in disgust, "it's like a bloody horror film."

"Yeah, well, if Boris Karloff makes an appearance, we'll get his autograph for the kids."

All three went quiet again and for good reason. They could hear voices, echoing around them from far away. Someone was chanting something. Deep…familiar.

They continued onwards and suddenly-

A flash of lightning. A loud bolt of thunder at the right moment because something moved. An inhuman and familiar cry.

Both men jumped back and cried out and Aida couldn't help but scream. All three pointed their guns at a nearby open sarcophagus.

Unfortunately, it was another mummy. Alive. An all too familiar and unwelcome sight.

They swiftly back away with their weapons held high but held off on firing.

Then again, it happened. A loud scream, a sudden burst of noise all around them. They turned and saw another reanimated corpse, banging on its glass case.

In fact, when they looked around the rooms, all the mummies were alive again, some still confined behind the glass. Luckily.

None of them seemed strong enough to break the glass though and all three hurried past them though kept their guard up.

"What the hell is this?!" She observed the one in the open tomb, but it didn't seem to know how to simply clamber up and out to freedom.

"They're bringing him back. And these are the ones that can hear the words, but they will not stay alive for long," Ardeth sounded honest and that reassured her slightly, "they do not have organs, nor a sacrifice to keep them alive."

"Well, I suppose that's good. I think I'd rather not stay too long in here though."

They all moved out of the room, away from the mummies and their strangled, croaked cries. Further down the hallway, towards the sound of the voice.

Rick moved ahead again a few feet and waved his hand for them to follow and keep quiet.

A light flickered and they moved silently to an open doorway.

In the large room before them, what Aida could identify as a storehouse of some kind, were hundreds of boxes, figures, statues, and relics all bundled up around a group of people. The three of them quietly walked onto the small balcony and it seemed, everyone was too pre-occupied to notice their presence. A circle of men in the red robes was kneeling on the floor, bowing and chanting. In the middle, was Lock-Nah and the curator of the museum and before them was something large and almost glowing. A twisted, strange shape. Behind some other men was another figure, tied to a table and observing the ritual.

"She's there," Aida whispered and pointed her gun at the figure, "Evy. But…what's that in the middle?"

"The creature," Ardeth grimaced and she could feel the anger radiating off of him. She looked back down at the twisted shape but it appeared to be trapped in something. Possibly amber?

Suddenly, the curator threw his hands out to the side and began to chant with much more vigor.

"We are too late!" Ardeth hissed and Rick had to grab him and pull him back, encase he started firing.

"You start firing, those guards by Evy are going to go nuts. Wait until we can get her out."

They could only watch in horror as the shell that had trapped the creature broke and with a burst of shattered pieces, tore apart to give an almost mock rebirth.

And then, he was back.

Imhotep.

"Just as ugly as ever," Aida lined up her gun and waited for Rick's permission, "I can take him out from this angle."

"No, wait," Rick pointed out to the back of the room, "someone else is coming."

The curator and Imhotep had been talking, but their attention was drawn to the figure of a woman approaching them. Aida noted she was tall, tanned, dressed in black, and stunning. Her heels click-clacked on the floor as she approached the men confidently, unafraid of the sight of the mummy before her.

"She must be with them."

"It is the woman who dug him up. The one who knows more than anyone could!" Ardeth drew his brow together and observed the two conversing far below.

"She was the woman in our house trying to kill Jonathan. Who is she?" Rick kept his weapon up in the air, ready and waiting.

Whilst they struggled to hear everything they were saying, the woman helpfully made her voice loud and clear.

"I am Anck-su-namun reincarnated," she announced and the only sound that could be heard was the thunder outside.

"SHE'S Anck-su-namun?!" Aida hadn't thought anything else could surprise her that evening. Obviously, she was wrong.

"Reincarnated. So, that is how," Ardeth sighed and Rick signaled for them to move back.

"You know, a couple of years ago, this would've seemed really strange to me," he moved them back out into the dark hallway.

"So, plan?" She enquired when they were far enough away, and Rick was moving them through the museum.

"Yeah. Go get Evy."

"…good plan."

Rick, ignoring the little jibe, turned to Ardeth and pointed at the now vacant doorway.

"Stay by here. I and Aida are going to go down and get Evy."

"What can you do?" Ardeth looked at her in confusion and had she not known that he was only confused by her 'skills' she would have been offended.

"You'll see. Try not to spoil all my fun."

A short while later…

Once Rick and Aida had reached ground level, they split off again. Aida quickly moved behind a stack of crates at the back, making sure to keep herself hidden. Rick went off one way to get closer to the group and his wife and that suited Aida simply fine. She was a good fighter, but she was an even better shot with her Enfield. A small part of her was excited that Ardeth would get to witness her.

'Stop it, focus woman!'

She readied her gun, ensuring it was loaded and she had another round to go inside when she needed to. She'd practiced with Evy so much over the years that it had become second nature to her, and she could easily do it blindfolded. She'd even started giving Amina lessons with Rick's help, but she adamantly REFUSED to buy her one (or let others buy her one).

'Amina, these aren't toys. These are to stop bad people hurting us and our friends, understood?'

She had said those words to her so long ago and had been hoping that the day would never come.

And despite her previous trepidations in taking a human life, she prepared her gun when the woman in front of Imhotep snapped her fingers and the guards picked up Evy on her little platform.

Aida took a deep breath and watched the events unfold.

Evy screamed and struggled as her captors stopped in front of a large pyre.

Rick moved around to save his wife.

"YOU WAIT, I'LL PUT YOU IN YOUR GRAVE AGAIN!"

Imhotep shouted a command.

"BURN HER!" The woman translated gleefully.

"You Bas-AHHH!" Evy screamed and Rick suddenly leaped out from the other side of the flames.

Aida took a long breath out.

"Now," she said calmly and began to fire.

Almost as though they were in sync, she could hear Ardeth fire off his own shots. But whilst he favored the Thompson and shooting everything in sight, Aida liked to make sure her shots landed. And they did EVERY time.

Despite the guards wildly flailing and trying to duck and cover, Aida made sure she got her shots off and the counted. One man only had his arm raised but that was good enough as she shot him right under his armpit and into his chest.

She was also able to pay attention to Rick helping Evy and carrying her out to safety, making sure they had cover. Ardeth was specifically aiming for Imhotep, but one of her best shots let Aida know that a mere bullet wouldn't be enough to stop him.

As the guards began to fire wildly and seemed to spot her, she still didn't move and was sure that only one of her shots didn't kill someone. Yet.

When she ran out, she ducked back down and reloaded.

"Patience is a virtue. Never wear white after labor day," she breathed calmly and moved to set herself back up, "and yanks love a good barbecue."

The madness of gunfire continued, until she eventually saw Rick and Evy on the other side, running to get back upstairs to safety.

"Right!" She shot one last time before she and her gun legged it back around the safe side.

She moved to the backstairs and looked behind her to ensure she wasn't being followed. Good thing she had, because one of the guards had spotted her. He pointed his pistol and-

Fell down dead.

She looked up at Ardeth, knowing he had just saved her life and had to unglue her legs from the stairs to get to him.

She ran along the hallway and joined him again on the little balcony.

"Thanks!" She immediately got down on one knee to the side of him and began to take out more men, the numbers quickly dwindling.

"Your shot has improved!" He yelled out and she felt those damn butterflies back in her stomach.

"You're not bad yourself!" She spotted Rick and Evy coming up the stairs and yelled back at him, "You get them, I'll cover these two!"

Evidently, Rick did not know they were getting cover and just as Aida shot out three men, Rick shot off a barrel of something that was apparently explosive and blew them and the others around them away.

"Bloody Rick, stop making me waste Ammo!"

She continued to shoot, though Ardeth decided to go Rick's way and shot off the remainder of the explosive chemicals in the warehouse, which just caused A LOT of fire.

Aida couldn't help but laugh.

"Stop having all the fun!"

She didn't turn but heard him laugh beside her.

One more loud explosion went off on the floor below and for a moment, the gunfire stopped as all the men below fell to their knees.

The only one that wasn't down was Imhotep, who seemed to have found a large, blue urn.

"That can't be good."

"Come," Ardeth placed his hand under Aida's arm and helped hoist her up. They moved along the hallway until Rick and Evy met them and they would have continued outward, except Imhotep began chanting something loudly.

All four stopped and watched in horror as he held up the urn with one hand, pulled off the top, and tipped the contents out onto the floor.

"This is going to be bad, isn't it?"

A burst of sand spilled out, but instead of just emptying on the floor, very much like the sandstorm she had seen so long ag, this one moved as though it had a life of its own. It began to form, wildly spiraling as though caught in its own weather disaster. Figures began to shape.

And in the blink of an eye, the sand had become four of Imhotep's guards. Aida had not been there to fight them, but Rick had given an incredibly detailed explanation of his heroic fight against them to save Evy. And, plus, his reaction was a dead giveaway.

"Oh, no. Not these guys again!"

"Definitely a good time to leave. GO!"

Everyone turned and bolted as fast as they could.

They didn't even need to see Imhotep shout a command, nor did they wait to see if they were being followed. The guards would hunt them down. But they had to escape NOW, because whilst everyone was alive, Alex still had the bracelet and once Imhotep and his goons figured that out, they would be coming for him.