Hey guys, here is the long awaited chapter five. sorry it took so long to update. Life and Tumblr kept getting in the way. Anyway, it's super long so I hope that makes up for it.
Okay, heads up...The Templars are a huge part of this chapter. I wrote them in as idiots and jerks, kind of like how modern history books describe them. Anyway, please don't shoot the messenger for this one; Some one had to be the bad guys here and once you find out who 'The Girl' is it will hopefully make sense why it had to be the Templars...and if it doesn't you should probably Google her character when you're done reading this chapter.
Anyway, more insight to Ahk's sassy side and more father-son dynamic between Nicky and Larry is in store. I'm also revealing the name f 'her' in this chapter as well. Enjoy and don't forget to review :D
EgyptianAngel: I'm glad you liked Ahk and Nicky's dynamic. I have more interesting things planned for their future. Also, I'm glad the comic and 'tablet' references made you happy too because I was cracking up as they popped into my head. And as for the girl...;)
DancingKitKat: Omggggg! Thanks for all of the reviews! I'm glad you found the back story intersting, and yeah...I'm not going to give away too much, but the girl can be a bit...much.
"Nicky, I thought I told you to do your homework before you started playing Pokemon." Larry scolded from his desk in the corner of the security office.
"Is it that you really want my homework done, or that the battle music is making it hard for you to read your boss's fancy language." Nicky playfully sassed from the couch across the room.
"Actually, both."
Nicky giggled, "But dad, it's Friday. I have until Tuesday to get it done; I don't have school Monday."
Larry looked up from the reports McPhee had given him to read and shot his son a skeptical look.
"What? My teachers are protesting again so they canceled school."
"Again?!" Larry face-palmed "Come on! Your mother and I don't pay fifteen grand a year to send you to private school so that your teachers can keep demanding a pay raise. If anyone needs a pay raise, it's me."
Nicky rolled his eyes. "Here comes the speech again." he thought.
"Seriously, with what I have to go through with Rexy every night I should be getting hazard pay." Larry continued, "Some nights I wonder if the job I really got hired for was as an animal trainer at 'Jurassic Park!' I mean, do you remember the time McPhee noticed Rexy's loose rib and sent it in for repair? He went absolutely nuts!"
Nicky sighed, "Dad, just let it go."
The night guard noticed the 'here we go again' look on his son's face and decided to stop his ranting. "Anyway Nicky," He continued, " you need to get your homework done. You don't want to have to do it on your days off. What do you have left anyway?"
"I have to read some poem about some guy who has to walk a bunch of miles before he can finally go to sleep, which I think is really stupid...Oh, and I have some geometry too."
"Well," his father answered, running his fingers through his hair, "I take back what I said. You should do the poetry stuff Monday with your mom. I know what poem you are talking about and I always got that wrong when I was in school. Your mother is a creative writer and she likes Robert Frost, so she is the one to talk to. As far as the geometry goes..."
"Dad, don't even try." Nicky got this horrified look on his face, "Last time you helped me, I failed the test. Mom says that you shouldn't touch my math homework anymore."
Larry was a bit put off, "She said that, huh?...Well...I mean, she's probably right, but I was going to suggest that Ahk help you. If he can build a pyramid, he can find the area of a um..." Larry picked up Nicky's geometry sheet and read one of the questions, "He can find the area of a quadrilateral based off of the angles of the three internal triangles...?" he raised an eyebrow, "What is this? Math, or Greek? Like, I don't get it. You'd need a separate dictionary to understand this stuff."
"We have one dad. It's a math-terms dictionary."
Larry shook his head, "I can't believe I pay for you to learn this crap..."
Nicky giggled, "Neither can I."
Upstairs, and way out of earshot of the night guard, two very burly men in 15th century armor, brandishing a huge red cross down the front grabbed Ahkmenrah gruffly by the arms and yanked hum to his feet.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" The Pharaoh demanded. He was pissed. No one had ever dared to treat him like this before. What he didn't know however was that the men grabbing him were Templars and Templars simply couldn't care less. They were kind of like Vikings in the respect that according to history, they took what they wanted and never looked back. If something got in their way, they destroyed it. Anything new or different was an obstacle and anyone new or different that agreed with something they did not, they killed.
"You sir, are under arrest." One of the men with a long blonde beard stated mater-of-factly.
Ahkmenrah was appalled, "Under arrest?" He raged, "First of all, if you have been residing in this museum for any amount of time you would know that pulling a stunt like this is highly against the rules. Secondly, you can't arrest me, I'm a Pharaoh! I am a son of Horus, and my tablet is the thing that brings you to life. I demand respect! Now, please tell me what I have done to deserve this, and get your hands off of me!" He demanded.
The two men didn't let go. In fact, their grip got tighter.
"You want us to tell you what you've done?" scoffed the other man. He wasn't waering a helmet and Ahk could see that he was a redhead with huge blue eyes and freckles.
"Yes, what have I done?" Ahk snapped.
"You helped the hieratic, that's what you've done. She's gotten away thanks to you, and with a weapon none the less." His accent was a strange combination of Irish and Northern English, and Ahk thought it was the most irritating sound in the world...next to his brother's lisp of course.
"I didn't help her, she stole my Khopesh." The Egyptian shouted, "Although, now that I see what kind of people you are, I'm glad she did. Also, I don't appreciate the name calling. I don't know what a 'heretic' is, but I'm not rather fond of you using it to refer to a lady such as her."
The two Templars bust out laughing, "That's no lady. Have you seen the way she's dressed?"
The blonde-bearded man's gaze hardened and nodded at the rest of the warriors behind him, "After her." he ordered.
Ahkmenrah, fourth king of a fourth king and ruler of the land of his father had reached his limit. Usually, he was pretty cool-headed. It did not take much to irritate him, but it took quite a bit to anger him and he was far beyond the point of anger. The girl was in trouble, that much he knew. He wasn't exactly in the most ideal of situations either, but he had to make a choice. If he didn't rescue the girl, there was a chance something awful would happen to her. These men were strangers. He hadn't seen them around before, and they clearly didn't understand the rules so they must have been new exhibits that Larry hadn't the time to explain everything to yet (The injured mammoth had probably delayed that a bit) which meant that whoever the girl was, if she was being chased by them then she was probably going to die if they caught her. As for Ahkmenrah...well, he was a captive but he knew he could take care of himself if the time came. Granted, he didn't have his Khopesh, but a lifetime of dealing with Khamunrah had taught him that biding his time and not showing off his capability to his enemies was better than allowing them the chance to scope out a weakness. If he complied and went along quietly, his element of surprise had a better chance of increasing tenfold. It was a gamble, but she was in trouble and he was already dead...it wasn't like he could die again...right? He resolved to rescue her first and foremost.
His captors began to march him down the hallway, past the entrance to his exhibit. He held his head high and complied easily enough, but smirked when he caught a glimpse of his gurads faces out of the corner of his eye. The two fifteen-foot tall statues glared at the two Templars that had ahold of their master. Their lips were pulled back over their massive, deadly canine teeth in a terrifying snear. A Nasty growl echoed through the exhibit and the corridor just outside.
The Templars stopped short in fear, drawing their swords. Ahk's smirk grew wider; The Templars had just proven themselves a threat to him, and the Jackals were none too pleased. The two guards rose their spears and jabbed them at their master's captors.
"Halt!"The Pharaoh ordered in Egyptian. The Jackals stopped short, their spears meer centimeters from the Templars' midsection. The two warriors tightened their grip on Ahk, their swords still drawn as the Jackals looked on in confusion. They didn't understand why their master had ordered them to stop when clearly he was under attack. Their sneers never faltered, even when their master smiled at them menially.
"Lower your weapons."
The Jackals hesitated, but obeyed. The Templars exchanged confused expressions. Clearly the giant statues belonged to the boy they had arrested, and clearly they had been trying to rescue their master when he suddenly ordered them to stop. They were as lost as the Jackals. The whole situation was so bizarre. They had attacked the boy, but he wasn't fighting back.
"Trouble is brewing." The Pharaoh explained to his loyal servants, "I am the least of your worries. My friend is in trouble; Go and find the pale-faced, brown-haired girl wearing a man's suit of armor and rescue her from these despicable mad men." he nodded his head in the direction of the Templars, " Do not harm them unless you absolutely have to, simply restrain them and then bring them to me. Understood?"
The Jackals dropped to one knee, bowed their head and placed their fists over their hearts.
"Good. Now, go!"
The Jackals obeyed and set off to find the mysterious girl their master had ordered them to protect.
The Templars exchanged a few more terrified and baffled looks.
The redhead jerked Ahk's arm, "What did you tell them to do?" His voice shook despite himself.
"Never you mind." Ahk spat in defiance.
The blonde shook his head as if to clear it, "You know what, it doesn't matter."
"Right." The redhead nodded, "We need to take care of the accomplise."
Ahk rolled his eyes. A few minutes ago these men had frightened him with their brawn and swords, but now he realized that they were nothing more than simpletons. He was glad he didn't waste his Jackals' energy on these sorry excuses for warriors.
The Templars tightened their grip on him again and proceeded to march him down the hallway. He didn't even resist a little. He knew that if he wanted to, he could easily take them (especailly now that he knew how easy they were to confuse) but he didn't feel like wasting his time. Besides, he knew that if he passed Larry, Teddy, Sacagawea or Attila along the way things would get a lot more interesting. The mischievous teenager that was trapped inside the Pharaoh shell wanted nothing more than to see how that would play out.
Nicky leaned over his geometry notes with a furrowed brow. He didn't understand anything he had in front of him, and it was really starting to irritate and frustrate him. With a sigh he pulled his Nintendo 3DS out of his back pocket to check the time since the clock on the wall in the secutity office had been broken by Attila a few weeks ago. The numbers on the tiny liquid crystal screen read 11:30pm, Ahk had promised to be down to help him nearly an hour ago. This only made Nicky even more irritated. He slammed the portable gaming system's lid shut.
Across the room, Larry sat at his desk reading through one of the more lengthy reports McPhee had asked him to go over. Any other night He would have simply just skim-read to get the basic idea of what McPhee wanted, but since the last report about Ahk's exhibit, he wasn't taking any chances. He had gone ahead and put Teddy in charge until he was done doing his paperwork, so he was sure everything was perfectly under control. That is until...
"Hey dad?"
Larry glanced up at his paperwork to find his son gripping the couch's arm rest for dear life. His face was sheet white.
"What's wrong Nick?" He asked cautiously.
"...Do you feel that too?"
Larry froze. Sure enough, every few seconds or so the ground shook, causing his desk lamp to bounce up and down in place.
"Yes. That feels like Ahk's guards are out and about again..." Larry was confused.
"But, wasn't he telling them to stay put? Wasn't that what he was suppose to be doing this whole time he wasn't here?"
"Yes..."
"But then...why are they out again?" Nicky hated to admit it, but Ahk's guards terrified him and the though of them roaming the museum freely and possibly without Ahk's permission gave him the chills.
"That's a good question Nick. There has to be a reason, Ahk wouldn't just let them roam around. The only reason they would be out would be if..."
He didn't even get a chance to finish. A high pitched female scream sliced through the air and cut him off.
Nicky looked at his dad, eyes wide with fear.
"...If there was trouble." Larry finished, "That sounded like it came from the lobby. Nicky, stay here." The night guard raced out the security office door. Nicky, of course, couldn't resist the call of adventure and sprinted after his father. Nothing could have prepared them for what they found in the lobby.
The up-scale, open, beautiful room that was the museum's lobby had been converted into a prison camp by a group of unusual men in armor. Off in the corner, Teddy, Sacagawea, Attila, his Huns had all been tied together with gags stuffed in their mouths. Rexy was nowhere to be found, and Larry didn't even want to think about what had happened to him. The miniatures had all been stuffed into an empty jar that use to hold extra pens on the desk, with Jed and Octavius separated from them, tied to the desk lamp with some twine. Atop Rexy's pedestal, someone had taken the petrified wood out of the "Jurrasic Rainforest" exhibit and set up a giant post surrounded by smaller twigs, to which Ahkmenrah and the strange girl he had set out to rescue were tied. The Pharaoh had been stripped of his crown, his jewels As for the rest of the museum? It was total anarchy...again. A war had broken out among the exhibits, and the men in armor, the Templars had managed to create a ring around their captives and were swinging swords at anything and everything that threatened to break through their barrier. Most of the exhibits were either cowering in corners or hiding behind desks to protect themselves while the braver of the exhibits (such as Columbus, Lewis and Clark, and the lions) tried to push past the mad men who had caused all the chaos and rescue their friends. All this being said, the strangest part about the whole situation was that Ahk's Jackals stood off to the side completely motionless, glaring down at the instigators, not getting involved. With their Pharaoh tied to a post in the middle of a war zone and his friends in similar situations he wondered why they weren't getting involved.
Larry watched Ahk's lips move as the Egyptian stared blankly at the wall in front of him. When their eyes had met for that fleeting moment, he had thought the Pharaoh was trying to tell him something, but now he wasn't so sure. Now he just thought that maybe the pretentious teenager had been bonked on the head too hard and was delusional because of some kind of brain trauma...could that happen? Did he still have a brain in his body, or was it put into a jar like the rest of his insides?
Nicky tugged at his father's sleeve and the night guard jumped.
"Nicky!" He shouted over the chaos, "I thought I told you to stay in the security office?"
"I was scared." The child whimpered.
"Nick, don't you see what's happening? It's not safe for you here, go back to the office."
Tears streaked down his son's face, "Why are they going to burn Ahk?"
Larry was shocked. He knew the disorder was overwhelming and a bit terrifying, but where were these assumptions coming from?
"Burn Ahk?...Nicky, what do you mean they're going to burn Ahk?"
"He's an ancient Egyptian, the other guys are Templars. Ahk has a different religion than they do, and they don't like that. They're going to burn him at the stake, or make him walk off a ledge like they did to Etzio in Assassin's Creed Revelations. Templars want to take over the world! They work with Abstergo company and kidnapped this guy named Desmond and..."
"Nick, you have got to stop spending so much time playing video games. Nobody is getting burned or pushed off a ledge today. Not while your dad is in charge. Now, if you don't want to go back to the security office, then..." He grabbed his son by the wrist and sprinted across the room, and shoved him back behind the front desk just as an arrow whizzed past the child's ear, "That was close. Now stay here until I get this sorted out. If things get too dangerous, go back to the security office."
"What if I can't get there!"
"Then sprint upstairs to Ahk's tomb and hide in his sarcophagus."
"Won't he be upset?"
Larry ran his fingers through his hair and peeked around the corner of the desk. The fighting had gotten worse and the Templars had stolen some flint from the cave people. If he didn't hurry, somebody was going to get burned today.
"Look, you know how much Ahk cares about you. I'm sure that if your life depended on it, he wouldn't mind you hiding in there for a little while."
"But dad..."
"Nicky, I don't have time to argue. Just do as I say." He peeked around the corner again, and this time something caught his eye. Ahk's jackals weren't just standing idaly by anymore, they were staring right at him...and with purpose. He stared back at them for a moment, a little confused, before he realized that one of them was making an ever so slight beckoning motion with it's hand. It was asking him to go to it. He felt a shiver run down his spine.
"well...this is new." he thought to himself. He took a quick look at his surroundings and noticed a gap in the crowd where no one was paying attention. He decided to go for it; if the jackals were calling him over it was because Ahk had asked them to...and if they were being subtle about following orders (he hadn't even seen them place their fists over their hearts) than it was because Ahk needed them to be discrete. He took off sprinting across the room once more, saying a silent prayer that Nicky would listen to him just that once. With all the luck of the Irish that was in his family's blood, he made it to the jackals without being noticed by any of the Templars, and skidded to a halt right before smashing into them.
"What do you guys need?" He asked them, just hardly audible over the full scale riot that was taking place around him. He knew the jackals could hear him. They were, after all, modeled after an actual animal with incredible hearing.
The Jackals responded by placing their fists over their hearts and slightly bowing their heads to him.
Larry was once again stunned, "Ahk put me in charge of you?" He thought this was impossible due to a language barrier. Didn't Ahk's guards only speak Egyptian? He made a mental side note to ask the Pharaoh about that later, what he needed to do right now was figure out a way to stop the invasion and save his exhibits. He didn't have a plan, but he had a few hunches, and that was enough for him.
"Right, so..." he started, "Where is Ahk's stuff?"
There was the eerie sound of stone rubbing against stone as the statues turned their massive dog heads toward a table in the center of the Templar's ring. Ahkmenrah's crown, cloak, jewels and sword sat abandoned and unguarded atop it.
Larry shook his head and rolled his eyes "They may be skilled warriors, but they sure are stupid." He returned his attention back to the Jackals, "Okay guys, I need to get over there without anyone noticing, think you can help me out? "
They nodded once and one of them grabbed him by the shirt collar lifting him off the fround. Larry had a moment of panic, wondering if they even understood what was going on. Ahk wouldn't let anything happen to him at the hands of his guards would he? He peeked over his shoulder to find his ancient friend still staring blankly at the wall in front of him...though, he swore that there was just a hint of a mischievous, sly smile playing about the corners of the Pharaoh's mouth. Before he even had a chance to think about what this might mean, he was swung skillfully over the heads of the waring Templars and plunked back onto the ground in the dead center of their ring. Everyone was so caught up in their fighting that nobody even noticed.
Heart racing, and adrenaline pumping through his veins Larry looked the dog-headed statues in the face, "Thanks guys." He dusted off his security jacket and started heading toward the table in the center of the room, "Well, I can see why Jed doesn't like to be man handled. That was very terrifying and uncomfortable."
When he reached the table, he grabbed Ahk's Khopesh and sprinted toward Rexy's pedestal, stopping right in the Egyptian's line of sight. The Pharaoh continued to stare at the wall.
"About time you showed up." he greeted the night guard bitterly
Larry was slightly taken aback. This kind of attitude was not in character for his ancient friend. He was almost tempted to remind the good king of his manners with a nice long lecture about all the crap he just had to go through to get to this point when he realized that that was exactly how he would respond to any other teenager's attitude. This really worried him; never before had he had the urge to treat Ahk like any other 18 year old. Larry had always seen him as much older, a man in his thirties at least. Even when Ahk had acted grumpy or moody in the past, it had never seemed so...adolescent.
That's when the night guard really looked at his ancient friend for the first time. Without his crown, jewels, cloak, and authoritative aura (which being tied to a post, about to be burned at the stake really killed) Ahkmenrah didn't look like a king. In fact, sitting there in nothing but his shendyt, all tied up, he looked like nothing more than a high school kid who ended up the practical joke of a frat-boy toga party. It was a strange feeling but...Larry actually pitied him.
Ahkmenrah's eyes suddenly filled with fire, "I know that look. Do not pitty me, Guardian. What you see before you was a conscious choice made for the good of the museum."
"You asked them to burn you?" Larry was shocked.
If Ahk could have face-palmed, he would have. "No, Guardian, what I mean is that I remian a captive without using my guards to cause a fuss because if they did, things would get broken, you would get fired, and the museum would fall into anarchy faster than you can say 'But Doctor McPhee...'"
"Yes, but how did you end up tied up anyway?"
"My strategy, if you must know, was to comply until the last second. I was going to fight back right when they least expected it...however a problem occurred."
"What happened?"
"They expected it."
It took every ounce of strength Larry had to fight back a chuckle. Ahk was a great leader and a great warrior as well (even though he despised conflict more than anything) but what he had failed to realize is that the Templars came centuries after his society and had used the warfare tactics of the past to shape their current ones.
"Alright Ahk, let's get you out of here so we can stop this madness and free the others." Larry used the Khopesh to cut the ropes that held his friend captive.
The Pharaoh rubbed at his rope burned wrists and turned toward the girl who had been the reason he ended up in this mess in the first place. She stood there, eyes shut with her head leaned back against the post, mumbling something under her breath over and over again in French.
Ahkmenrah nodded in her direction, "What about her?"
Larry's face paled and his stomach did a little flip, "We need to take care of the Templars first."
Ahkmenrah whipped around to face the night guard, eyes flashing "What?!" He demanded.
Larry raised his hands in defense, "Trust me Ahk, letting her go while the Templars are still here is a horrible idea. You think your guards will do damage if let loose? She will probably burn this entire building down."
Ahk's nostrils flared, "Guardian, you can't be serious!" The thought of leaving this incredibly beautiful woman tied to a post defenseless made him furious and sick to his stomach.
"Ahk, please. Just trust me on this."
The Pharaoh glanced back at the woman who was still mumbling to herself, completely unaware it seemed, as to what was going on around her. He sighed a heavy sigh and tried to put his anger aside. He knew that Larry was only doing what he thought was best for the museum. He could argue if he wanted, but here he wasn't a king. Larry was in charge and although he didn't often exercise his absolute authority very often, he knew that the Guardian of Brooklyn's word was final and even as a Pharaoh he couldn't refuse to obey, or the consequences would be dire for everyone. Besides, he had already made enough bad decisions today to cost the museum trouble. He was in no position to go about doing anything else stupid.
"Alright." He agreed begrudgingly.
"Thank you." Larry sighed, relieved, "Now, is there anything we can do about the Templars?"
"Hand me my Khopesh and you will see what can be done." Ahkmenrah spat.
"I mean with the Tablet..."
"Right, of course. We can use it to round them up and keep them from harming anyone else...and we better hurry because I see two of them off in the corner attempting to light some make shift torches."
"We don't have much time. Should we send your guards to get it? There is no way any of us could make it to your exhibit and back in time..."
Ahkmenrah smiled slyly, "No need. I have it right here." He reached around his back and pulled the Tablet out of a secret pouch in his shendyt.
Larry's mouth dropped open.
The Pharaoh chuckled, "How do you think I kept it from falling into my brother's clutches after he murdered me?"
"Never have I ever been so grateful that your brother was a raging psycho...but if you had that all this time, why didn't you use it sooner?"
Ahk rolled his eyes, "I was a bit 'tied-up' Guardian...besides," He got a mischievous glint in his eyes, "It wouldn't have been nearly as fun." Ahk whispered a command in Egyptian and the tablet began to glow. A few moments later all of the Templars dropped their weapons, and came together in the center of the room . Larry freed Teddy and the others, and the rest of the exhibits ran back to their places in fear. There was some major damage control to be done later.
Ahkmenrah went about putting on the rest of his kingly attire and he and the Guardian of Brooklyn faced the Templars. Nicky remained concealed behind the desk. Thankfully, he never had to make a run for Ahk's sarcophagus.
Larry paced back and forth in front of the trouble makers, trying so hard not to explode with rage.
"They are new comers." he kept telling himself, "They didn't know any better"
Ahkmenrah wasn't trying nearly as hard to conceal his anger...in fact, he wasn't even trying at all. As a Pharaoh, he felt personally responsible for the safety and well being of the museum and it's exhibits, even though that was technically Larry's job. Ever since he was a child duty and responsibility was engraved in him and he found old habits hard to break. He liked to think that it was what kept him humble, although lately that had been a bit of a stretch.
His face was flushed, his nostrils were flared and his posture was rigid. He held his head high, looking down his nose at the invaders with a nasty glare. He kept his fists and his Khopesh ready at his side, and stood with his feet shoulder width apart in battle stance. His whole attitude dared anyone to so much as breathe without his permission.
However, even though all of this was going on on the outside, inside the Pharaoh was a swirling storm of guilt, confusion and rage...guilt being the strongest of his present emotions. The girl he had attempted to rescue before was still tied to the post atop Rexy's pedestal, and she was no longer mumbling to herself. Her posture was rigid and defiant, her eyes were open and alert. Her glare was a force to be reckoned with and Ahkmenrah could feel it boring into his back.
Suddenly Larry stopped short. He whipped around and faced the Templars head on, staring them down. "What, the hell, was that..." he demanded.
There was no response.
"Look, I don't know where you came from or who the hell you think you are, but none of that...None of that was in any way appropriate."
The Templars just stared back at him.
"I don't know if you realized..." His voice shook as he tried to remain calm, "But you are in a museum...YOU ARE EXHIBITS!" he shouted, feeling a bit like Woody in the movie 'A Toy Story' when he told Buzz that he was just a toy.
Still silence.
He began to pace again, "The real Knight's Templars died off centuries ago. They became the Free Masons, or the Illuminati, or whatever you want to believe, but they are gone. You are made of wax!...or maybe even Polyurethane like Sacagawea over here..." he motioned to the native American woman standing behind him, "Either way guys...you are museum exhibits and on your first night here...you did not make a good impression."
"That's an understatement." Ahk scoffed.
Larry glared at him, "Ahk..." he warned.
"I apologize, Guardian."
Larry turned back to the Templars, "I mean guys, seriously? Putting the miniatures in jars? Separating them from their leaders?Tying up Teddy and the others?..." he ran his fingers through his hair, "And then there was the attempt to burn Ahk, the guy who's tablet is the reason all of you are able to be alive right now...oh, and what did you do with Rexy?"
"He's out in the loading dock, Laurence." Teddy interjected.
Larry sighed and slumped his shoulders, "Great another mess I have to clean up...Attila, can you and your men please go get started on that?"
Ahk translated that into Hun and Attila nodded and headed toward the loading dock with his army. Larry turned his attention back to the lecture he was giving.
"Now...is there anything you have to say for yourselves?"
There was a heavy pause before the redheaded man who had helped capture Ahk finally spoke up.
"We didn't have a choice. They were all protecting the heretic."
Behind them, the French woman rolled her eyes and huffed.
"Yes, Especially the Egyptian. He gave her a weapon." added the blonde.
Larry raised his eyebrow at Ahk.
"She stole my Khopesh..." he explained, "And they accused me of being an accomplice. Then I mentioned 'for the love of Ra' and they all but had a heart attack. They really have something against Osiris, Bast and the other Egyptian gods, I'm telling you..."
"Ah." Larry nodded in understanding, "Now listen here, at this museum there is no such thing as He racy and there is no burning, limb ripping, tar and feathering, hanging, or any of that other torture and capital punishment stuff. We get along here and respect eachother's beliefs...and If you can't do that then you can end up like the Mayans. I'm in charge here and if you refuse to play by the rules, well then I'll lock you up and make sure you don't cause problems for anyone else...where did you guys come from anyway?"
Just then Nicky ran up with a slip of paper in his hand.
"Cleveland." He answered, "They are from a small medieval museum in Cleveland. According to this report form Dr. McPhee that you had stuck to your shoe when you left the security office dad, they are here as a sort of rest stop on the way to a museum in England. They arrived today and will be leaving early tomorrow morning. This place is just sort of a half way house until they reach their new home."
Larry took the slip of paper out of his son's hand and skimmed it over.
"What else does it say, Gigantor?" Jed inquired.
"It says that in an attempt to make up for some of the lost funds, the museum will be accepting a lot of these temporary shipments. Nicky was right in saying that this place is a half way house. We will be seeing more of these one night exhibits...which could mean a lot of trouble." He looked down at his watch, "Four hours 'till sunrise guys and this place is a disaster. Ahk, please use your tablet to send these guys back to their boxes. We need to get this place cleaned up...oh, and have your guards escort them to make sure that they don't cause any trouble along the way."
"As you wish, Guardian." Ahk nodded in obedience before giving the orders to the tablet and his guards.
"Oh and Ahk...how did your guards understand me earlier when you put me in charge of them?"
Ahk smiled a slight smile, "They understand English, they just prefer that their orders come in Egyptian. They still don't understand this museum fully after doing nothing but watching me get locked up every night for 52 years. Egyptian is like a security blanket to them...a last bit of familiarity and comfort. They may be stone but thanks to my tablet they have a conscious like you and I and it is the least I can do to give them that when I'm the one that causes all of their internal turmoil. I mean, they can't even voice an opinion, so it is my duty to make sure I figure out what it is that they need to be happy...and that happens to be orders and being spoken to in their native tongue."
Larry was stunned, "And you figured all of this out how? As you just said, they can't speak."
"They say that 'eyes are the window to the soul', Guardian. Every other minuscule part of a person, their posture, their voice, the way they carry themselves may suggest that they are feeling one way, but they can never mask their true feelings in their eyes."
Larry just nodded along. He was thrown off guard by how 'deep' this conversation had gotten, and didn't know how to respond. Ahk just smiled.
"The Templars are gone, you should free her." He nodded at the girl tied to the post.
Larry handed him the Khopesh, "Yeah, not so sure that's a good idea. Why don't you go free her. You have more battle experience than I do."
Ahk raised an eyebrow, confused by his Guardian's statement. The girl had gotten herself captured, how much of a warrior could she really be? Sure, he was no one to talk...but he had complied on perpose. She had been clearly running for her life before.
He shrugged and sauntered over to cut the ropes from her wrists.
"Bonjour" He greeted with the only French he knew.
The girl rubbed her wrists, glaring at Ahk. After a moment she raised her arm and slapped him hard across the cheek. His head turned sideways with the force of the impact, and his lip started bleeding. The girl had one hell of an arm on her.
"By the misery of Set's army of the damned..." He cussed in Egyptian, "What the hell was that for!?"
"For getting me captured! You and your Statues de chien demi-wit, half-wit dog statues, nearly got me burned at the stake...AGAIN!" She jabbed a finger in Larry's direction, "And you!" She jumped off of Rexy's stand and got right up in the night guard's face, "You promised this wouldn't happen. You promised that never again I would be persecuted for being the warrior that I am! Then you go about leaving me tied to a post in the middle of the lobby while everyone else runs free, and you talk about me right within ear shot...as if I can't hear you."
"I didn't think you could, you were kind of mumbling to yourself." Larry retorted, terrified.
"I was PRAYING!" the woman raged "Sacrè bleu! You have to be the absolute worst night guard we have ever had! At least the other three kept us all locked up so I never ran the risk of being attacked by outsiders!"
Larry was starting to cower, something Ahk hadn't seen him do since the first night he had an encounter with his guards. He felt as if he should do something.
"No wait just a moment miss..." He placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder.
She wheeled around and slapped it off, "Don't touch me, Ramsese!"
Ahk rubbed his hand where his knuckles were now bleeding, "My name isn't Ramses. He was my great, great, great, and so on grandfather."
"Oh I know who you are, but apparently you don't know who I am. Which is ironic because you stomp around here, cape fluttering in the wind, tablet in hand like you own the damn place! But you don't! This isn't Egypt, Cleopatra! You aren't a queen anymore, so quit living in da-Nile!"
Ahkmenrah didn't know what to feel. Never had he ever been so disrespected like this since he became a Pharaoh (With the exception of Khamunrah of course). He didn't know if he should be angry, or hurt, or...attracted? There was something about the way the way the woman's cheeks turned pink and her eyes flashed dangerously when she was angry that Ahk found...endearing. He wasn't afraid of her like Larry was, even though he wasn't use to a woman with this much sass, but instead he found himself liking her even more than he had the first night he set eyes on her. She was dangerous and clever...two things Ahk couldn't resist.
"What is your name?" He asked her in a calm and quiet voice.
"Jeanne d'Arc...or in English, Joan of Arc...and don't go around thinking you can call me 'Joany' or 'Jay' like some of the others in this museum have, or I will kick your ass like I did theirs. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some post traumatic stress to go deal with now that this little event has brought back the memories of my first burning. I bid you all farewell, and warn you to leave me alone!" And with that she turned and stormed off, shoulder checking Larry on her way out.
Teddy, Sacagawea, the cave people, Larry, Nicky and Ahk all exchanged exasperated glances.
"I Like her!" called Jed from the desk, "She's not afraid to keep King Tut in line."
"I'm not so sure that is a good thing, Jed." Larry added in, "She was being rather rude and disrespectful." He turned to Ahk for confirmation, but the Pharaoh didn't notice.
He just stood there, gazing after her, biting his lip, lost in thought and fighting against the emotional whirlpool going on inside him.
*Disclaimer: I do not own any part of 'Night at the Museum', Nintendo, Pokemon, or Assassin's Creed*