Chapter 14
"Come to me my love! Come and set me free! And then we can be together!" whispered a voice inside Tony Starks head.
The self-proclaimed leader of the Avengers looked at the other members of his team. He could see Natasha and Izzy speaking with Imhotep. They were talking about why the Book of the Dead was needed so much. Then as quick as a viper striking they changed the topic to the two lion Gods of War that protected the Book of the Dead as they waited for the chosen heroes to come. The chosen heroes who had been picked by the gods to take the final fight to Seth and finale defeat him.
Stark didn't want to sound like he was full on egotistical but he had a feeling that he was one of these heroes to bring down Seth. It would be a good thing to say that he had been one of the heroes who had been chosen to fight against Seth. Sure he had fought against Loki in New York City with the other Avengers but comparing him to Seth he was nothing much other than a Trickster playing a prank on all of them.
He hadn't really been paying attention to what was being said. He was just focusing on the treasure that was all around him. He had a feeling that the amount of gold that was in this one room surpassed the wealth that was Stark Industries by he couldn't work out the total wealth that would come from this amount of treasure that he was seeing. He began to wonder if the Ancient Egyptian Gods would built statues of these so called heroes like they did for themselves. It was a large wish and he might not even be one of these heroes that Imhotep talked about.
Stark had heard enough of these heroes from Imhotep that he really hoped that they could find these people. From what the Mummy had told them (and from what he had heard when he was paying attention) was that there was already a handful that was with the Avengers already, but he didn't give away any names.
He had noticed that Imhotep spoke mostly with Captain America and Nightshade. He also spoke to both Izzy and Tentomon. He had even spoke to Galvatron and Dalek Sec when they had been in the Avengers facility for a brief moment before they had gone to the British countryside to search for the Chaos Blade that was said to kill Seth and take away all of his powers. It was one of the first things that the Mummy had told Captain America and Nightshade in their meeting. The meeting that he was not allowed to attend as he was not Captain America who everyone followed his orders and Nightshade who knew about the supernatural and had taken out her fair share of Gods and Demigods throughout her lifetime.
The golden desert sand surrounded him. It went on as far as the eyes could see. Tony could see mountains in the far distance, but they were miles away from where he was. He looked up at the sun and thought how he got out into the desert when he had been underground in a series of tunnels. How did he get out here.
"My hero! You have finally come to help me defeat Seth!" spoke that voice that sang out to him.
The voice came from behind him. The instincts that he had picked up as being Iron Man screamed at him to turn and face this strange person. It was almost second nature as he turned around to face a woman with olive skin and dark hair. On her face and exposed arms that were not covered by the white cotton dress were covered in tattoos much like Seth. Unlike Seth who had those piercing yellow eyes the woman who stood before him had dark brown eyes. Looking into those eyes he could see determination much like him.
In her hands that were not spared with the tattoos she carried a staff. On either end of the staff there was a deadly dagger at the end of it. A weapon that allowed both close combat and far combat without endangering the wielder.
"Who are you?" Stark demanded. He looked at the lady in front of him who was slowly advancing towards him. He watched as she walked with a sway of her hips. Her bare feet were exposed and he could see that even more of those strange tattoos on the skin right up to the toes.
The woman was right in front of him and was running her hand down Stark chin. Then before he knew it her lips were touching his and she gave him a kiss. He had been kissed by many woman throughout his adult life, but this kiss seemed to complete him. Not even Pepper's kisses came anywhere close to the kiss this woman was given him. This stranger who had appeared to him in the middle of the Egyptian desert without the rest of his teammates in sight.
He felt pity when she pulled away from him. "My name is Ahmanet! And I am the warrior princess of the Upper Kingdom of Egypt! And you are My Chosen!" Ahmanet replied. She brought her hand up to his face again and ran her index finger and thumb down the line of his chin.
Stark stared at her for a good moment. He should be moving away from this woman. He didn't know her. But she gave the feeling that he knew her for all of his life even if they had just meet. It was a weird feeling. A feeling that should have him screaming for the other Avengers, but that was not what was happening. He felt that he could trust her. Something that he knew he done way to easily. He was not Edward who wanted to punch everything into a wall until they prove themselves or Julian constantly pranking someone until they finally gave in and pranked him right back to declare a Prank War.
"Why are you calling me Your Chosen?" Stark asked her as she walked around him. It was as if he was a piece of meat in a butcher shop and she was the butcher looking for the best meat to put on for sale.
Ahmanet stepped in front of him and looked right into his eye. "You are one of the Chosen people who are to help me! In by helping me I mean that you help me to get my throne back which was stolen by Seth! You are one of the Chosen Heroes who are to stop Seth and end his reign of Chaos!" she replied. Her hand once again ran down the side of his face and he couldn't help but lean into the touch.
A smirk formed on her face. A smirk that Tony missed with his eyes closed. Seth had been right when he said that once she found the weakest member of the Avengers it would be easy to bring them apart. She had not expected it to be this easy. Stark was to easy. His ego was his greatest weakness and she could see his desire in his very soul. He wanted to be marked down in history to be one of the Heroes that had been chosen to fight against Seth.
"Then you can explain that Imhotep! He has only been meeting with a few members of the Avengers! None of them are me and none of them explain what is being said in those meetings!" Stark replied. His full mind was going into haywire. He couldn't trust this Ahmanet, even if he has that felling that she is telling him the truth. Then again they couldn't trust Imhotep. Sure he said that he was on their side, but that was just words not actions. And his father always said that actions spoke louder than words.
Ahmanet smirk fell at the mention of the High Priest of Osiris. He was a problem, but one that wont last for long. The Mummy would not last long once she has started to make her moves. The moves that she had already begun to take. Her influence was already starting to take away the Free Will of Tony Stark the Iron Man slowly that he wont miss it. Soon he would be nothing more than a puppet for her and Seth to bring the Avengers down. "He knows that you are one of the heroes, but you first must earn your place! I will help you to earn your place at the table but first you must release me from the prison that Seth has placed me in! Please My Chosen hurry and free me before Seth knows that I have returned! And make sure that you come alone!" she replied. Her smirk had returned when she saw the inner battle that Stark was facing inside.
The inner fight that Stark was facing didn't last long when she took more of his Free Will. She didn't want to do that, but it was needed to be done. It was the only way for her to earn his trust and beginning to take control over one of the main Avengers. One of them that all the Avengers trusted and would not suspect to be turning dark.
"How can I find you?" Stark asked Ahmanet.
Stark was brought back to the tunnels under Hamunaptra. He was no longer in the chamber that was filled with gold and other treasures. Now he was in a massive black chamber. There was no sign of any treasures at all in the chamber that he found himself in. The chamber that he found himself in had many strange statues of the Gods of Ancient Egypt. He noticed that all the statues were facing into the centre of the chamber as if standing in wait for something to show up.
On the ground he noticed that there had been small cannels built into the ground that was allowing a metallic grey liquid to flow towards the centre of the room. He could hear the droplets of something dropping to the ground to see that the metallic grey liquid was dropping to the ground. Reaching out a hand, Tony caught a drop of the liquid in his open palm to see that it was mercury. The liquid metal was dropping out of from the ceiling high above his head and being used for the needs that the Egyptians thought was needed to be used even to the modern times.
In the ceiling that he saw above him he noticed massive chains going towards the centre of the chamber. The chains looked like they should be used by a massive ship. Following the chains he saw that they all converged in the centre of the chamber where they all dropped down into a pool that was filled with mercury. Around the pool was another chain that was covered in strange symbols.
Stark in seeing this should have thought that he shouldn't have been in this chamber, but he was not thinking clearly. He was only focusing on rescuing Ahmanet. He was one of the Heroes who were to defeat Seth and she was going to help him in getting that. He needed to find a way to defeat Seth once and for all without having to go on some wild goose chase for weapons that might not exist at all but was just rumours. He was so focused in looking at the chain with the symbols that he hadn't heard someone approaching from behind him.
"Stark?"
Tony turned around to see that Nightshade was standing behind him. Her black sword in her hand was covered in green blood. He noticed the large metallic scorpion that was standing beside her as if it had always been at her side. Nightshade took a step forward with the giant bug following her and he couldn't help but take a step closer to the pool in the centre of the black chamber.
"Stark what are you doing here? Everyone has been looking for you! We can finally leave this desert and get back to not having sand finding its way into my joints!" Nightshade explained. Her optics never left Stark as she watched him walking towards the pool in the centre of the chamber. She arched her optic ridge as Stark got closer to the pool before she looked down at Scorponok at her side.
The Insecticon Symbotie was at her side like he had been since they had joined together. He clicked his claws together as he watched Iron Man with close optics. Scuttling on his six legs he moved his attention from Iron Man back to Nightshade.
"There is something wrong with the earthling, Nightshade! His soul is different to any others that I have scanned in the last ten minutes since meeting the other Avengers!" Scorponok spoke to Nightshade through their growing bond. He looked back at Iron Man to see that he was getting closer to the chain that was wrapped around the pool filled with mercury. "What is he doing, Nightshade?" he asked her.
Nightshade studied Stark as he walked towards the chain that was wrapped around the Mercury pool. She watched as he walked around the chain that was covered in protective symbols. He didn't even look around at her as she made noise to alert him that she was walking towards him. "Scorponok be ready for anything! Something is about to happen!" she spoke through the bond.
Scorponok hissed in response as he prepared to go into battle against Tony. He knew that he was a human and that he could easily be overcome by Nightshade herself without needing his aid. But he could sense that there something not right with this human. Shifting on his six legs he kept back as Nightshade approached Tony Stark. He was still finding humans to be strange creatures. He was used to being around Cybertronians and he still found himself finding them strange. In the half hour that he had been around Nightshade he found her strange. She was different to his last partner, Blackout. She talked to him rather than ignoring him like Blackout had done. She included him in the conversations rather than leaving him out.
Nightshade came to a stop behind Stark. She had made plenty of noises for him to know that she was behind him. He still hadn't made any moves that told her that he had heard her. But him being in his armour it made it hard for people to read his body language and his face with the faceplate on. She glanced over at Scorponok and he was ready to leap into battle at any given moment. She looked back at Stark to see that he was reaching for the chain that was wrapped the pool.
Reacting faster than before Nightshade reached for Stark's arm. Her fingers had begum dark claws that easily wrapped around Stark's arm. "Stark!" she said in a warning tone as she glared at the human. She was slowly showing signs that she was transforming into her true form as she prepared to drag Stark out of the chamber if he was not going to leave on his own free will.
Growling as Stark showed no sign that he had heard her. He was not even showing signs of pain that he must be facing as she tightened her grip on his wrists. What was wrong with him? Was it this place that had simple stopped his brain from working? Was it the defeat that they had faced from their fight against the Serpent Sisters that had caused him to start acting weird?
"Stark! We need to get out of here quickly! The others are preparing the trek back to the Moonray! We need to make haste as Janet is not doing any better!" she said with a growl. She hissed when Stark showed no move or any signs that he had heard her at all. Tightening the grip she had on her wrists he still showed no signs of being alive at all. "You remember her! Is called after an insect due to her ability to shrink in size and shot out energy blasts?!" she snapped at him.
Stark remained staring at the Mercury Pool. He knew that Nightshade was there but he really didn't care that she was there. He just needed to free Ahmanet. She was going to make him be remembered as one of the Heroes to defeat Seth. Something that Captain America and Nightshade were keeping from him. They were keeping the glory for themselves as they were jealous of him.
"Free me my love! Don't let her deceive you! The alien shapeshifter will do anything to keep the glory to herself and her allies! You are the one who will free me and bring Seth to an end! Please hurry up! The shapeshifter will keep you out of this!" he heard Ahmanet's voice inside of his head.
Having heard that Stark was more determined than before. Raising the hand that was not being crushed by Nightshade's vicelike grip. The repulsers glowed a bright blue.
"Scorponok stop him! NOW!" Nightshade ordered as she used more force to break the wrist that she was holding. It was harder than she thought. Stark's armour had been upgraded since Ultron and Sokovia that prevented any damage to be done to the wearer.
Nightshade watched as a beam from Stark's repulsers hit the chain as Scorponok barrelled into Stark. Stark was pinned under Scorponok. The chain that had been wrapped around the pool suddenly whipped around. The chains that dropped into the pool cranked upwards allowing a black Sarcophagus to slowly be cranked up from the Pool of Mercury. She watched as the black box with the screaming face etched onto its surface was cranked up out of Pool. Nightshade felt a pit in the deep of her Spark at the sight of the Sarcophagus. This was wrong.
She glanced over at Stark and then back at the Sarcophagus. Something was really wrong with this picture. And she was going to get to the bottom of it. /Moonray I need a Ground Bridge at my location! We have found an ancient relic other than the Book of the Dead! Teleport it back to my lab on-board!/ she ordered the AI with her comm. system. The response that she got was the blue swirling vortex opening under the Sarcophagus. She had to admit to the Moonray, even with limited resources and power the AI always knew what she wanted.
The swirling vortex swallowed the Sarcophagus. It snapped the chains that was suspending it above the pool of Mercury. The vortex moved and swallowed Scorponok and Stark. Then as quick as lightning the Vortex shot towards Nightshade. The vortex swallowed up Nightshade before snapping shut.