Rating: PG13 prolly eventually
Author: Angel - http://www.geocities.com/ninthsaturn
Summary: The ending of the Scorpion King changed and expanded upon. The O'Connells meet up with some strange people that look very familiar. Almost too familiar.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Mummy or it's characters. But I would give a whole heck of a bunch to own Imhotep and Ardeth. ;-)
*
Evy couldn't contain the nervous pain in the middle of her stomach. Rick was always accusing her of being too reckless, but when it came right down to it he could be just as bad. God forbid anything on this trip go right. They'd gotten their son back, only for her to wind up dead, then all this future business and now Rick had wandered off to get himself killed. No matter how fast they were walking, it wasn't fast enough.
She had a bad feeling about this. Not that this whole situation wasn't enough to give anyone a bad feeling, but not knowing where he was and what was happening to him drove her simply mad. In both senses of the word. Her poor son had merely asked if they could rest a moment because they were walking too fast for his little legs to keep up and she'd snapped. Of course that was immediately followed by an apology, but it just wasn't like her. And at this particular moment she wasn't willing to accept the blame for that. If Rick hadn't wandered off like a fool she wouldn't have been so rude to her son. She wouldn't be as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof, either.
Naturally her blame sought other avenues. That nervous energy had to go somewhere after all. The younger Imhotep had gotten quite the scolding for commenting on Rick's recklessness and the elder when he tried to calm her. After that both men avoided her completely and that was just fine. If he hadn't gotten himself cursed then none of this would have happened.
Of course if she hadn't awakened him none of this would have happened either. She frowned and furrowed her brow. If Ardeth had stopped us from digging around Hamunaptra...no, if Jonathan hadn't stolen that stupid key... She sighed, trying to blame everyone for this but herself. Yet she was the only one she could really find fault in. If she hadn't fallen for Rick's feigned sleeping, if she had followed her instincts and made Imhotep tie him down for the night, then Rick wouldn't be in whatever danger he was in. Her dark eyes filled with salty tears.
Alannah noticed her troubled state and took a chance, coming over to walk beside her. "Hey," she breathed, gazing ahead as they walked. "You okay?"
Evy sighed, knowing that this girl knew what she was going through. It wasn't as if she were the only one with family in trouble. "I'm all right, I guess. Tell the twins I'm sorry." She smiled softly and glanced back. Alex was on the older Imhotep's shoulders, being too young to keep up the fast pace of the adults.
They didn't have much further to walk anyway. The pyramid was just ahead, quiet and unguarded. She swallowed and stopped just inside the brush of trees. The two men caught up. "What of the child?" the older priest asked, letting the boy down.
Alex straightened his clothes and looked up. "Hey, I plan to help you save my dad!"
Imhotep shook his head, his face stern. "You have a brave heart, boy, but now is not the time."
Blue eyes widened in indignation at being left out. Evy wasn't sure she had the heart to tell him he couldn't help save his dad, but he absolutely could not go in there. Still, Alex was stubborn. "Oh yeah? You leave me out here and I'll just sneak in reaaaal sneaky like." He rested his hands on his hips and his mother grinned. Suddenly she wondered how Jonathan was doing.
"Leave him with me." The voice wasn't a shock anymore, but the priest that that little suggestion had issued from was. The younger Imhotep's eyes met with Evy's, asking her for the impossible. Her trust. "It was never about your son. I would not harm him."
No. The answer had to be no. This was a monster, an evil, cunning man who would do anything for his own gain. But if he could turn out kind and trustworthy in the future, could there be a place inside him now that was good? "You...you would do that and not...if you hurt him..." She just didn't know what to say. She needed someone to watch him and yet she needed help to save Rick and kill the Scorpion King. Alannah and this elder Imhotep knew things about him that this younger priest didn't.
It was the older priest that replied. "I believe he can be trusted," he said, looking at his past self speculatively. The two priests locked eyes, exchanging whatever thoughts they might be having with their eyes. The elder looked back to Evy. "I know him better than I know any of you," he told her with a small smile. "He is being honest."
Evy inhaled deeply and rubbed at her forehead. This choice before her made her more nervous that Rick's disappearance, for she knew the danger Alex could get into with this man. Imhotep's eyes were open and offering. That knot in her stomach got tighter when she whispered it. "Keep him out here."
The younger priest bowed his head and grabbed Alex before he could even think. "What the...?!" he yelled struggling as Imhotep kept a hold of his shirt and leaned against a tree with a smile. Somehow that smile didn't make Evy feel any better. "Mom, are you crazy?"
"Imhotep," Evy said low, still worried about this decision. "If...if it looks like we aren't going to succeed, if we don't make it out of there what will you do?"
He considered it. This wasn't his time and many things had changed. Blending in would not be easy. She could barely believe she was trusting her son's life and possible future to this priest. His gentle voice asked her to suspend those doubts. "I will journey with him to Thebes and wait for you there if I can."
Evy looked to Alannah for any sort of opinion and received an assuring nod. She sighed, having hoped the girl would give her some reason why Imhotep shouldn't be left out here alone with Alex. Every second that passed put Rick in more danger. She looked up at the priest and held her hand out. "Thank you."
Imhotep looked down at her hand, then took it instinctively. She gave it a squeeze and turned away, somehow feeling both better and worse. It was time. Taking one of Rick's guns he'd given her out, she checked to make sure it was loaded. Satisfied that it was, she then looked resolutely towards the pyramid. Evy was quite proud of the deadly confidence in her voice when she said, "Let's go save my husband."
*
The guard was being quite difficult and every moment that passed rang out with the warning that soon Aaron would open the doors to Michael and Imhotep's cells. The tall brute's eyes were squinty and distasteful as he looked the doctor over. "King Mathayus didn't tell me nothing like that when he was here earlier."
Ryan closed his eyes in irritation. A long, loud sigh came from him as he clenched and unclenched his fists. "Look, pal. Queen Cassandra, you remember her? She gave me strict orders to come down here and examine Michael. Are you really so stupid that you'd disobey her? Didn't she send you a message?"
"Why wouldn't the king have told me himself?" the guard retorted, crossing his large arms.
The young doctor exhaled and held his hands up. "You know what? Fine. I'm going to go straight to her and tell her exactly why I can't do my job. Hopefully she'll only kill you and not us both." He turned and started walking back into the hall where he and Ardeth had left Jonathan and Izzy, grabbing the Med-Jai's seemingly tied hands. "Let's go."
Ardeth prayed this little ruse would work and true to the luck he'd seen O'Connell possess, the guard hissed and called, "Hold on." He didn't look particularly pleased with this, but apparently the threat of this Cassandra's anger was enough to make him relent. "I'm going in with you, though."
Ryan's expression was sarcastic. "Like I care. Just open the freaking door and let me get my job done. You mind keeping an eye on my prisoner? No one was there in the infirm to watch him, so I gotta drag him with me everywhere." He made a face.
The guard unlocked the electronic doorway and motioned them on, muttering, "Whatever."
Of course they didn't exactly make it into the doorway. Once the doors were unlocked, Izzy and Jonathan came bursting into the room and began fighting the guard. Ryan and Ardeth began for another guard on the other side of the door, the Med-Jai pouncing just in time to stop him from setting off the alarm.
Ardeth didn't like not having his scimitar with him, but of course that couldn't keep him from the current situation. The man below him landed a punch square in his jaw and Ardeth groaned in pain. But duty and the sense of urgency in his friends' struggles made him forget the pain and continue his attack on the guard. "You'll never get away with this," he growled, knocking the Med-Jai off him temporarily.
He was stopped before he could raise up, by Ryan. Taking the syringe he'd prepared out from his pocket, the doctor plunged it into the guard's neck and emptied it's contents into the unfortunate recipient of his treatment. "Get in here!" Ryan warned Izzy and Jonathan. The doors would close and lock any time now.
The other two, who were still in valiant struggle with the head guard, both gave expressions asking for help. Ardeth provided it. Taking the gun Ryan had entrusted him with, the Med-Jai pointed at the guard and fired twice. Jonathan and Izzy scrambled into the door. They weren't even halfway towards the second door when they heard it hiss shut and the locking mechanism click.
Jonathan was the first into the main dungeon, rushing past the variety of denizens and to Michael's cell with a casual, "Hey Joe, whaddaya know?"
For his credit, Ryan ignored that and headed straight past him. Seconds passed and the doors to both Michael's cell and Imhotep's clicked open. All in all Michael didn't look too bad, just a little roughed up. He stood as soon as the door opened. "What took you so long?"
The young doctor rolled his eyes as he came from his cell and Ardeth pulled Imhotep out. "You try slipping past security sometime. You don't know what it's like here. I do."
"All right, my friend," he said with a smile. "What is your plan?"
Ryan pointed down the hallway. "There's a back entrance that leads upstairs. After that we'll have to find a way out of here."
The Egyptian priest shook his head and lifted his cuffs. "I cannot leave the palace." His eyes were afraid to hope.
The doctor cursed and banged his foot against the cell bar. With concerned eyes Michael gazed from the priest back to Ryan and back again. "Is there nothing that can be done to remove them?" he asked in a thick voice that surprised Ardeth. It appeared friendship wasn't totally lost upon this monster and this spirit of a Med-Jai.
But it was the creature that chose to reply, his eyes low as he accepted his fate. "Nothing." His dark eyes met Michael's. "If I pass beyond the palace grounds I will surely die, but I will help you escape."
Ryan shook his head. "When Mathayus finds you, Imhotep, you'll be dead or worse. It's better to leave you here in this cell."
A look passed between them and the priest stepped away from the cell door, whether consciously in rebellion or not realizing it Ardeth couldn't decide. "The more you have fighting with you, the more chance you have for success. I have some access to the palace when not imprisoned. Perhaps I can get you close to the throne room."
"Throne room?" Ardeth asked. "What is there?"
There was a momentary pause before anyone spoke. Whatever was there was important, something they absolutely needed. Somehow the room felt a little colder as the forgotten item registered within the Med-Jai's memory. Michael looked up. "The spell to get us back to the 1930's." Without that they could never change the past back. Without that likely heavily guarded item...
Another pause came and went, bringing with it the frustrated voice of Ryan. "We're never gonna get it if we stand around worrying about whether or not we'll get it."
The priest nodded his agreement. "Let us go, all of us, and end this evil."
Ardeth could see a little twinkle in Jonathan's eyes as he opened his mouth and Ryan glared. Carnahan smiled and ran his fingers through his hair innocently. "What? I just thought, you know, that it's nice...all this," he moved his hand over his lips and coughed, looking away. "Fellowship." Ryan rolled his eyes.
*
Well, it's
been a while, huh? ;) Been writing too much Buffy instead.
:O Anyhow, thanks for the reviews!!! You all rock. :)
Enjoy and yes, I could have prolly thought up a better chapter title, but
I just got done building a darn website, so I don't feel like thinkin'
thankyallverymuch. ;) Go visit, huh? :D http://geocities.com/saturnfiction