Chapter 6

Leatherback cracked his neck and bared his teeth. The young solider had been quiet in their journey back to his base. The base that he had taken for himself when Nightshade and Edward left him for dead at the end of the Great War. It was there that he had come into contact with Seth who somehow managed to get him back to strength. He didn't question the creature who had caused pain and suffering for this world long before he was born. Seth had made him bigger and stronger than the last time that he had faced the two pests all those years ago, and he was waiting for the right moment to take his revenge. He knew by now that Nightshade's team would know he was back thanks to all the messages that he had been leaving them as he carried out Seth's plans.

Pushing open the massive doors Leatherback stepped into his home. The home that he didn't want to call home, but he had to thanks mostly to Edward. He was going to make the Maiden pay for all the years that he was forced to stay in shadows on such a primitive world. Looking over his scarred and scaly shoulder he saw the young human solider walking in after him. He was shaken mostly from the cold of the place. "Follow me, boy!" he grunted causing the human to jump in fright and run after him. He knew that he was afraid and he knew nothing of what was in plan for him. Leatherback and Seth didn't care that they were about to take his life, all they cared about was that Seth would return. He would take the human body but he needed the Book of the Dead to make the body last and that was where the Red Skull would come in. That was if this Captain America didn't mess with the plans.

"Sir?" the boy asked as he trailed behind Leatherback.

Leatherback grunting and bearing his sharp teeth spun around to face the human. The human who was not much younger than Julian and Captain America, but comparing those two with him he would rather have taken them to him but he had to do with what he was given. "What?!" he asked bearing sharp and yellowed teeth at the 17-year-old in army uniform.

The 17-year-old was shocked at the scary face that Leatherback was given him that he took a step back and away from the monster that towered above him. "Why did you bring me here and not the Red Skull?" he asked taking small steps away from him. "For he would understand this more than me, Sir! After all I am just a solider!" he finished when he found he couldn't go back any further because of the wall.

"I have nothing to say to you, boy! But Seth does!" was all Leatherback said as he led the 17-year-old boy through the old wooden doors of the forgotten church on the borders between France and Germany.

The room that Leatherback had led him to was much warmer than the rest of the church that he had called home for so many years. The room was decorated like a museum with ancient artefacts from long lost cultures. The main lost culture that was visible in the room was Ancient Egypt and mainly focused on the gods. Leatherback stepped to the side and just missed a statue of a lion and was out of view of the young soldier. He was still looking at the golden painted walls that told stories with the long forgotten language of the one of the greatest empires of the world. Looking around at the other side of the room that Leatherback had led him to was a contrast to the rest of the room. It was dark and told the tale of the Underworld and what one would see in the Underworld. The creatures that Seth had at his command and the creatures that were causing The Night Wars to be raged in the shadows.

"Step forward, child! There is no need to be afraid!" came a ghostly from the shadows themselves. "You are among allies, child! Leatherback is just an old grump!" the voice continued seemingly from everywhere in the room at once. "Tell me your name. I bet you Leatherback didn't even think of getting to know the boy who was going to help his country and his cause win this war!" the voice said when the young soldier didn't make any more move after he spoke.

The young soldier stepped forward closer to a statue of one of the Egyptian Gods. Seth. The statue was in great condition even after all the years it had faced after the fall of the empire that had created it. The head of the Seth animal baring its teeth at all who looked at it reminded everyone of why people should be afraid of him. Gulping as he walked past the young man walked past it towards a table. The table was just randomly placed in the room that Leatherback had dumped him in. "Why am I here if you don't mind me asking?" he asked looking all over the place in hoping of finding the speaker of the words. Whoever he was, every time he spoke it sent a shiver down his spine and also made him want to do whatever he asked him to do for some strange reason.

The voice began to laugh. A laugh that was gentle but hid something darker under its façade. "You are here because you can help us and I can help you!" the voice said after it stopped itself from laughing. "Please take a seat!" the voice said suddenly making the young soldier look back at the table after looking all the place in hope of looking for Seth. At the table now was a simple wooden seat. Following the voices order he sat down. "You still haven't told me your name!" Seth said as his voice seemed to be getting louder and closer to where the young soldier was sitting.

"Eh, Thomas sir!" Thomas replied as getting comfortable in the seat that was provided for him by Seth. He was still unaware of what was happening. All he knew was that he was in the presence of a powerful god from ancient Egypt. "So how can we help each other?" Thomas asked.

Seth began to laugh again. This time the laugh was not gentle, but was the opposite and this sent an even bigger shiver down Thomas's back. "I am glad that you ask that! Leatherback was smart in bringing you to me! You are much smarter than any other human I have come across and this along with my own intelligence will help with my plans! Plans that have been stopped by many over the years, especially with that annoying High Priest, Imhotep who was the one to imprison me in my prison!" Seth said as his voice got deeper than it had been only a few seconds ago.

Thomas was beginning to tremble more than anything. His instincts were screaming at him to leave this place before something bad happened to him. He kept thinking of his mother and the family farm. He thought of his big sister who had gone to Berlin before the war to start up a career in dancing, now he didn't know where she was. She could be back at the farm away from the bombing that the British air force was inflicting on his capital city. His father and his older brother were in Russia in two different regiments in hope of taking the massive country. His mother before he had left to work with HYDRA had lost contact with both his brother and father. He wasn't going to see them again, and he knew that when he himself joined the war effort against Britain and her allies.

He was about to get out of his seat and run out of the old church and get back to civilisation. He didn't care if the civilised people he ran into was the British allies just as long as he got away from these insane things that liked to lurk about in old churches. He was able to push the chair back only a few centimetres before the movement was blocked by something big. Looking behind him Thomas saw Leatherback. The monster looked down at him with beady eyes.

"It's rude to leave without asking permission in your world!" he simply said before looking back up at where he knew Seth was located. "Everything is ready, My Lord! But I fear that our enemies are moving against us! My agent in Britain has informed me that the Howling Commandos and the Argentix's have joined forces to deal with us! I am not sure if they know about you or if they are close to figuring that information out!" he said to Seth as the room that they were in got darker.

"Then, Leatherback we should begin!" Seth said as the shadows got closer to Thomas who was still struggling in Leatherback's grasp.

Thomas still wriggling in Leatherbacks grasp looked to where he was looking in the shadows. He was still hoping to see Seth's face. "What? What should you begin?" he cried still hoping to escape. He had heard stories of Captain America and hoped that he would burst through the doors of the church and save him. He began to feel tears forming in the corner of his eyes as he feared for the worst that was to come. "Why did you choose me, Seth?" he shouted as the sobs slowly got bigger. "Why not someone else within the ranks of HYDRA? Why not the Red Skull himself? I am sure that he would have loved this experience!" Thomas gasped as his crying got louder and louder with each passing moment. He didn't want to be in the army, anymore. He wanted to be in the family farm working the fields. But that was not possible. He was in a church far away from his home and speaking with creatures that pretended to be Gods.

Leatherback's grip got tighter when the shadows in the room began to make a shape. The shape was much like a dog or a hunting dog found in the plains of Africa, but the shape of its head was different to anything that he had seen. It had long ears that were accompanied by a just as long muzzle. It kept low to the ground as its long tail that ended in a tuff of fur like a lions swished side to side. Yellow eyes broke the darkness of the shadows as the yellow orbs focused onto Thomas.

The set animal sat on its hind legs like a cat when it got closer to the table that Thomas was forced to sit at. "You have been brought before me, because I need you! I need your flesh in order to receive my shape shifting ability that was so rudely taking from me many centuries ago!" the Set animal said still looking at Thomas. In a swift movement the head and eyes focused onto Leatherback. "Let's get this finished am I have waited far too long to return to the physical world and take my revenge on the human who banished me to the Underworld all those years ago!" Seth grumbled baring sharp fangs at the scaly gorilla whose only response was to tighten his grip on Thomas who cried out in cry. "Don't worry, Thomas the pain will soon be all over and you won't need to worry about a thing!" the Chaos Bringer said seeing the human in such pain.

"Seth, you must hurray! The Howling Commandos along with the Avengers have left London! They will be in Europe in less than five minutes!" Leatherback said still holding onto the now tired Thomas.

Seth arched his back and his tail flicked side to side. "That soon?" he asked. His yellow eyes meet with the black beady eyes of Leatherback.

"Afraid so! The Argentix's have a jet called Moonray that can travel faster than anything on this world!" Leatherback said dropping his gaze from Seth.

The animal that was Seth looked back at Thomas. "I think we have wasted enough time Thomas! I'd advise you to relax it will make the merging so much better for the both of us!" Seth said in the voice that he had first spoken in that resulted in Thomas relaxing not in his own free will. That was the only warning Seth gave Thomas. The animal along with the shadows lunged towards the boy in one massive leap. The Set animal merging back into the shadows as it closer to the boy and before the human and Leatherback knew what had happened the animal spectre merged into the boy's chest.

Thomas jerked causing Leatherback to let go. He had never seen anything like this happen before, and he had to take a few steps away from the human body was that was going through some changes. On the back of his hands along with other areas of exposed skin as far as Leatherback could see were the ancient Hieroglyphics of Ancient Egypt. The standard HYDRA uniform of the young soldier began to slightly change as Seth changed things to suit his own needs. A breastplate formed over his chest protecting his new vital organs. Armour also formed on his shoulders, back and wrists with more Hieroglyphics on them.

That was the only changes that Seth brought to the boy as he slowly rose to his feet. He swaggered for a few seconds before he caught himself on the table. Stepping away from the chair that he kicked away Seth was able to finally walk to Leatherback. His yellow eyes focused onto the alien from another world. "Tell me, Leatherback!" he began. His new voice was a mixture of his voice along with Thomas's voice but it was slowly becoming more like Thomas's. "What do you think? Do you think this world will tremble when it sees me?" Seth asked still getting use to his voice. He hadn't need to use a mouth and a tongue for so many years that the entire thing felt strange to him, but thanks to Thomas's memories kit wasn't as weird as it would have been if he hadn't used the boy.

"My Lord, this world will bow before you and your race once again when they return!" Leatherback bowed his head as he responded to the god of Ancient Egypt. He watched as Seth still wobbling now and then walked to a statue of him. In his hands that were crossed over his chest were two wicked weapons. "Lord Seth, what are your orders now?" he asked as he still watched Seth reach for the two ancient weapons. The two ancient weapons that he had not held in over three centuries after the High Priest Imhotep locked him in his prison.

Seth looked over his shoulder. His hands were still holding the handles of the two old weapons as he looked back at Leatherback. "Inform the Red Skull to proceed with my plans! And tell him we shall meet again and until then he is on his own. And Leatherback contact my army general tell him to keep the humans busy for as long as he can and to report back to me on both their strengths and weaknesses!" he informed his ally in his revenge campaign. He received a crude nod from Leatherback before he disappeared to carry out his tasks.

Looking at his new hands, Seth grasped his weapons. This new body was smaller than his old body, and it had not yet mastered the shape-shifting ability but that would come soon. But they had the memory of how to hold weapons thanks to Thomas having to use a rifle in this new form of warfare. Getting a better grip on the weapons Seth remembered all the battles that he had fought in and then how Imhotep used them to banish him to the Underworld with the blessings of Osiris.

With a solid yank the weapons were removed from their resting place. With experienced hands Seth span the blades around. He was ready. And he was ready to succeed this time. He needed to be patient. He could wait years; he had already waited 3000 years to get to this point. He could wait another 3000 years to achieve his ultimate goal. He was going to rule this world and his people. But first he needed to learn of the world that he had entered so he could come up with a plan to bring it to his knees. And he would need to deal with this Captain America before he became too much of a problem, but if Skull kept to the plans then he wouldn't be much of a problem.