CHAPTER 9
"Disgusting!" She spit into the dirt.
"See, this is why I asked you to be quiet on the way here—less talk, less bugs in the mouth."
"You yelled for me to shut up at least 12 times!"
"Don't exaggerate—I gave you two 'Shut up's,' three 'Shut the hell up's,' one 'Stuff it,' and one 'Fuck you.'"
She spit on his shoe.
"Fuck you—there, two, a happy twin to the first one."
She spit onto his other shoe. "There, symmetrical!" She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, as Soul scratched the top of his shoes on the dirt and removed a flashlight from his autumn jacket.
While it was not exactly wintery around Teotihuacán, the night air was still chilly. He was impressed with the time that it took them to get from Death City to Mexico City, and now here at Teotihuacán-the wonders of a few magic tools that could do when he took those the DWMA automotive courses. Of course, he could have had Lord Death assign someone to refurbish his motorcycle for swift travel-but like hell he would let anyone touch Baby.
He opened the compartment behind his motorcycle's back seat, sifting through its contents for remaining supplies to get to their destination.
According to Azusa's report-which he and Liz skimmed during the number of rest stops they took, some of them that Soul was willing to admit were necessary for a coffee break, others he thought tedious, as he mocked Liz's bathroom breaks, at least until she threaten to stuff him down a toilet-they could only drive up within viewing distance of the Avenue of the Dead, then would have to walk so as to stay as quiet as possible.
Yeah, us being quiet, Soul thought, as he rolled his eyes: amazing if Liz could ever quiet down. Kid must have about as much patience as Tsubaki did to put up with such a chatterbox.
" 'Soul, slow down!'" he started to imitate Liz in a falsetto. " 'Soul, where's your helmet? Soul, where's my helmet? Soul, turn on the radio. Soul, I need a bathroom.'" He glanced back at her. "You know, on these trips Maka just rolls with it, cool under pressure, not freaking out over every little want."
"Maka also knows how to keep her weapon exactly where she wants him, Evans." He frowned—he really hoped this wasn't going to become her nickname for him. "I could make sure to keep you in the place I want you to be until we finish this mission," she added, cracking her knuckles for emphasis.
Soul glanced away. Based on how more adept she was in hand-to-hand combat thanks to years of street fighting, Soul did not want to start a brawl—weapons' only training had been enough proof given the number of times Liz won their sparring matches, but only because she fought dirty—and, Soul surmised, because Sid and Nygus apparently enjoyed hearing his shrieks of agony.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"What was that?" she said, holding a hand up to her ear, as she leaned down to his. "I couldn't quite hear ya!"
"Sorry, alright! Jeez, can't you take an apology without milking it?"
"I'm used to getting what I want," she said with self-satisfaction, crossing her arms but wearing a friendlier smile. She glanced around the sky. "Nice night, though: cool air, stars above. Perfect time to kill some bad guys and bring your girlfriend home her mama."
She heard something heavy as it fell on his foot, a hoarse curse escaping his clenched teeth. "Funny," Soul replied, rubbing his foot where his Maglite had hit. "Here," he shouted, tossing something to her. She caught a pair of binoculars, as Soul put a pair of his own his own neck. "Make yourself useful and scope the surroundings."
Her smile becoming more authentically polite, Liz turned around and held them up to see the Avenue of the Dead below.
"Just don't fall down that hill while you got them on, okay?" Soul warned.
"Sure, sure," she replied. She took a few steps forward, anticipating the hill would cut off when she would feel her feet touch the edge. Besides, even if she went one foot over, it wasn't like she couldn't pull herself back: she was the personal weapon to Death the Kid—that kind of crucible already gave her perfect balance.
Looking through the binoculars, Liz studied the buildings comprising the Avenue of the Dead. Like the name itself, the place was dead: no one was present, no sound, nothing. "Huh." She sauntered past some dilapidated walls to get a better view of the valley below. "Those layers of each building, all stacked on top of each other-they kind of look like pyramids."
"They are."
She froze mid-step. She still was not at all close to the hill's edge. "What?"
"Pyramids. Those are pyramids," Soul said, reaching into his motorcycle's storage compartment for a compass to deposit in his jacket's pocket.
"They are what?"
"Pyramids," he grumbled. "What, you got bugs in your ears, too?"
"Pyramids?"
"No, cubes. Of course, pyramids-the Avenue of the Dead is a bunch of pyramids."
"P-p-p-p-"
"What are you, a sputtering motor? Yes, pyramids."
"Like mummies?!"
Soul sighed. "Not every pyramid has mummies."
She was already upon him before he realized it, her hands wrapped around his neck, as she shook him, furiously. "I didn't sign up for this!"
"Liz!" He gripped her shoulders. "I know what happened the last time you were in Egypt. It was not a cool scene, it sucked, but you got through it, and you destroyed an entire pyramid." He smiled. "That's pretty awesome, right?"
"A mummy licked me!"
Soul furrowed his brow. "And a cat molests me on a daily basis—been there, got the bookmarks to prove it."
Liz raised an eyebrow. "What, now you are doing lame book puns?"
"There, see? You're back to normal!" He tore her hands off of him, and he removed his hands from her. "You just need to calm down, crack a few jokes, and see that everything will be FINE!"
At the last word, Soul's voice rose an octave, as he felt Liz's hand shifting through his pocket.
"I'm going home-give me your keys!"
He pushed her away. "Re-relax!" he said, his voice still cracking. He pushed her away, dusted himself off, pulled the compass from his pocket, and adjusted the binoculars around his neck. "This isn't Egypt. No pyramids in Mexico contain mummies."
"And how do you know this?" Liz said, leaning against a wall.
"You read enough art and architecture books, you pick up a few details," Soul said, his eyes moving from his compass to the binoculars. "For example, the pyramids include intricate tunnels underneath, some portions of the pyramids hardly excavated. And in those tunnels, we'll likely find Kami." He grimaced. "I hope still kicking, and so not cornered by serial killers or monsters." He smiled a bit. "I'd feel sorry if she didn't leave a few of those cretins for us to smash."
Hearing no reply from his simultaneously frightened and bored partner, he continued, without looking behind at her: "Furthermore, if you keep leaning on that wall like that, then the archaeologists will kill you before any mummy does."
Liz grumbled as she kicked off the wall—and heard part of it crumble.
"Case in point," Soul concluded as he marched forward down the hill, while Liz stuffed her hands in her pockets, hunched over, and followed, still grumbling. "Neither of us is great at sensing souls, so I suggest we start with the tunnel first." He shone his light to the side of the hill. "There is one of the entrances. We stand with each other the entire way, and we mark a path back." He removed a ball of yarn from his jacket. "This is the first fail-safe, and I have some caught as well to mark a path back to our entrance."
Liz was silent, staring daggers into the back of his head.
"We search every inch of the tunnels, as I doubt archaeologists will get pissy if we go through them-they have searched them enough. The pyramids themselves are next-that will be tricky, but I'm sure we'll get retroactive clearance later."
"Probably freaking mummies here, and you are worried about some museum hunting us-your priorities stink."
He closed his mouth, his lips barely visible. The sharp-toothed Death Scythe didn't bite at the bait.
"I swear, Soul Evans," she continued, as they approached the tunnel dug into the hill, "if I die because of some mummy, some ghost, some devil, all to drag your partner's mother kicking and screaming back to Death City, I will put you through a wall myself!"
The side of the hill exploded in with a flash of red light crashing out of the tunnel. Both weapons froze as they felt rubble explode against their faces, and a twitching, wrinkly corpse fall at their feet.
"Like that?" Soul test.
"Eh, yeah, kinda something like that," Liz replied.
"You can let go of my arm now."
"Sorry!" she said, releasing her grip.
Liz then looked at the creature.
"Soul? How would you describe the skin of that thing?"
He studied it. Then his eyes widened in realization. "I'd...say he needed moisturizer?"
"Try again, you bastard," Liz said, trying to focus on her anger more than the fear crippling her.
"At least this guy doesn't have any bandages on?" He attempted a pathetic smile.
"So you admit it is a mummy!"
Soul backed up. "I don't understand! Mummies aren't in Mexican pyramids!"
Another explosion came from the hill, this one behind them, as another corpse-a mummy-laid twitching on the ground, before he stiffened, evidently its life-after life?-coming to an end. Liz and Soul stopped panicking and darted to the hole, tentatively leaning forward to look in. The view was opened upon runes carved into the tunnel walls, candles left along the dusty, stony floor, and in the center stood a woman, breathing heavily, as she pulled back the fist that sent the corpse flying. Blood dripped off of numerous gashes along her arms, her pants a bit scuffed but hardly that damaged, and surprisingly her steel-toed black and white boots immaculate-so noticed Liz on that last point. Then Liz froze upon seeing the blood smeared across the woman's face-and more of it dripping off the machete in her hand.
"I could sense you two miles away from here," she began. "Should have figured my darling Maka would come running to see me."
Liz glared. Soul gave a friendly smile as he said, "Hey there, Kami."
"Soul!" she said with a bright smile. Then upon seeing his colleague, and not seeing the one she expected, Kami Albarn looked up in shock. "Oh." She sneered. "Hey, there, Pistol."
o-o-o
WRITER'S NOTES: CHAPTER 9
This is a shorter chapter, to let the reunion of Soul and Liz with Kami stand on its own. I enjoy how the character has come out, and she continues to blend together these traditional images of parental care with snarky, foul-mouthed ass-kicking goodness.
Next Chapter: Smut!