Torg Eternity – Dead Legion
Swallowed by Sand
Nile Empire – Cairo
The sun wasn't even up, and most of the Storm Knights were still bleary-eyed from their early awakening as they boarded the plane.
Only Ghost seemed fully awake. Brooding about something, perhaps the leaders of the Retribution League who'd slipped through his grasp. Perhaps what evil plans they had in mind for the golden was scepter they'd managed to escape with.
Shafira Azar, the underground reporter who'd told them about the Retribution League's plans, was the only other member of their strange little group who was somewhat alert. She took the seat next to Ghost before the plane took off, double-checking her satchel before the door closed on them.
"I still don't believe this," Ghost muttered. "Nakatomi's superiors are going to hear about this, if we survive."
"Oh, I think he had a brilliant idea!" Shafira countered. "People need stories of hope in times like these!"
"You think demanding a noncombatant come along after a whole coalition of villains is a brilliant idea?" Ghost asked in disbelief. "He wouldn't agree to charter us a plane until we said yes."
Shafira smirked. "I just said why! Your Deputy Director happens to agree."
"Look, we upheld our end. Why don't you take the time to tell me what you've dug up on that scepter the Retribution League wanted so much?"
She put her glasses back on, and fished a few papers out of the satchel on her arm. They gave Shafira a kind of bookish charm, he supposed, but she didn't seem quite his type. "The imperial scribe we paid off said those jars, and the scepter inside the last one, are related to the tomb of Nefru-Khem-Un. He was a bigshot priest in some ancient dynasty that doesn't seem to have ever existed, in this world or the one you and Mobius are from."
Ghost nodded. "Yes, I've heard about that. Remnants of empires that only existed in some other Egypt we've never heard of. The Egypt that Never Was, they called it."
"You're well-informed."
"You don't survive walking a beat like I did without learning to keep your eyes open, Miss Azar."
She lowered her glasses and gave Ghost a thoughtful look. "You'll have to tell me the story of this beat you walked sometime."
He looked back at her, and replied, "I'll see about it, if you'll tell me the rest of your story about this Nefru-Khem-Un fellow."
"Right." Her eyes turned back to her papers. "According to the findings of the pharaoh's people, Nefru-Khem-Un was in possession of a gem of awesome power, called the Eye of Sebek. He could use it to blast destructive rays. It was so powerful he was able to use it to overthrow the sitting pharaoh, and when he died, the gem was buried with him. The only key was hidden, to keep the unworthy from gaining control of the source of his power."
"Not well enough," Ghost muttered.
"Not well enough," Shafira agreed.
"And a gem powerful enough to overthrow one pharaoh could be powerful enough to overthrow another," Ghost proposed.
"Yes, that would seem to be the natural takeaway," Shafira agreed. "Sounds like a job for some real heroes. Who need people to know about their grand adventures."
Ghost glared at her, but Shafira only smiled. "Now you're just rubbing it in," he grumbled.
"Look, I promise not to get in the way, alright?" she said with a smile.
"Miss Azar, no offense, but you wouldn't be the first person to tell me that," Ghost said, and looked out the window.
She seemed to have no quip to respond to that, so Shafira put away her report and settled in to catch up on her sleep also.
And the plane flew on over the endless sands.
Nile Empire – Abu Minqar
Turbulence was what awoke the group.
At least, most of them hoped it was turbulence.
The wisest of them knew better than to get their hopes up.
Especially when a fighter plane careened by to the left, machine guns chattering.
Sophia Black was the first one awake, but not the first one to get to her feet. She yelped in surprise as her seatbelt kept her trapped to her seat. Angrily she grabbed the latch and tried to get it to open, but Kristina grabbed her by the wrist.
"Keep it fastened, unless you're planning to jump out there and shoot at the damn plane!" she warned Sophia.
"What's going on?" Wren asked before the plane shook again, and another fighter plane fly by the other wing, guns blazing.
"We're being attacked!" Kristina answered them too. There was a BOOM and a flash of orange through the windows on the right side of the cabin. "Brace yourselves, folks! This is gonna be…harsh!"
A horrible few minutes that seemed to last hours followed. The plane went into a steep slant, then slammed into the sands of the desert floor and skidded until finally coming to a stop. As soon as it had, Sophia clawed at the latch to her seatbelt again.
"Are there ever times these godforsaken machines of yours do not crash?!" she screamed at the same time she staggered out of her seat and reached inside her duster to draw her revolver. Pinpricks of red were dancing in her eyes.
Ghost seemed to disappear and reappear next to her, dropping his hands onto the huntress's shoulder. "Let's lay low for a minute, Sophie. If we go out there and try to shoot down a pair of fighters with small arms, they'll just turn us into swiss cheese."
"I'm not a fool," Sophia muttered, but quietly. They all waited, listening carefully for the sound of the fighter planes' engines as they came closer again. Suddenly rapid gunshots sounded out, punching holes all the way down the cabin, with the Storm Knights falling flat. They looked up, sunlight streaming down through the holes in the roof, but the enemy pilots seemed satisfied with their work as the sound of their vehicles faded into the distance.
Rising to her feet, Sophia went to the cockpit and checked the pilot, even with the daylight streaming through a few bullet holes in the back of his seat. After pressing her fingers against his neck, she shook her head.
"Guess we're walking to this town," sighed Kristina.
"I wouldn't mind that," Wren spoke up suddenly, startling Kristina. "This climate's energizing. Back in Aysle, everywhere I went was so damp, it was always putting me to sleep."
Everyone gave the mage a strange look, but did it while heading for the exit door. Outside, they could see the outlines of a village not far from where they plane had come down. They climbed off the wing and started across the sands toward the only semblance of civilization in sight.
The lead was taken by Sophia and Ghost, walking beside each other, and having a quiet conversation, it looked like. A little behind them was Shafira Azar, seeming to maintain some distance to respect their space.
Which left Kristina Rouge bringing up the rear, next to Wren of Greymarsh, their hood raised to hide their face from the sun. Nonetheless, they were humming softly, a melody Kristina didn't recognize. Although, given what little she understood about the mage, that wasn't exactly surprising.
A wizard.
From another world with a lot of other wizards. And dragons. And elves. And tons and tons of weird fantasy gods and prophecies and things like that.
Like the kind of prophecy Kristina and the other Storm Knights were supposed to be involved in right now.
Maybe someone who was familiar with such things could help her with facing down this…prophecy.
"Hey?"
"Hmm?" Wren replied, turning their head to look across at Kristina. Their eyes were shining in the shadow of their hood.
Not managing to hide it at all, Kristina shivered. Wren looked away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you," the mage said.
"No, that's not what I meant!" Kristina gasped. She sucked in a breath to collect herself. "Sorry, I just mean, you've joined the group. You've been a big help to us already, but I haven't seen anybody trying to talk to you, or anything."
They shrugged. "The important thing is to combat the High Lords, is it not?"
"Yeah, but we'll be able to do that a lot better if we understand each other, and work together as a team. Right?"
Wren nodded at that. "Yes, that's true. There were many times in the past, where I was only able to succeed at my task because of having capable allies. What sorts of things would you like to know, then, Kristina Rouge?"
"Well, you've been on a lot of adventures, already?"
Again, a nod. "Yes, I've been on many a quest. All over Aysle, really. Honestly, some of them are hard to remember, now."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I've lived in different eras…when I'm truly needed again, I awaken in a new form. Quite how, I'm sure I don't know, but if I'm needed, then I shall do what I must. These High Lords invading your world are not the first great evil I've encountered. Such as…such as…" They trailed off, as if struggling to think of an example. Kristina only kept walking, but glanced over at Wren. Suddenly, the mage spoke up again, "Such as the dragon Tetlumage. There were five of us who hunted it down, the horror.
"Techis and Noer, the twin rangers of the Darktreader line. Graen, the rogue. Jakk, the mighty and brave axeman," Wren said, and Kristina's eyes went a little wider, but Wren failed to notice. "We set out to destroy Tetlumage after that dragon had been razing the southlands with fire and carrying off livestock for weeks.
"Most people in the villages we passed through were too afraid to help us, as if the beast would know of their betrayal and hunt them down for revenge. Eventually we saw Tetlumage make one of its attacks, and then tracing it to its lair was simple. Not all of us returned from that quest. Honestly, I'm not sure any of us did."
Kristina gave Wren an incredulous look then. "Are you saying you didn't survive?"
Wren shook their head. "Indeed. The last thing I really remember is the dragon swooping down and breathing its flame at me. It had been grievously wounded by then, however, and Jakk managed to finish it off even after most of us had fallen."
"And how did you find that out? Is there, like, a book of all your adventures somewhere?" asked Kristina.
Again, Wren shook their head. "If there is, I'm not aware of it. The next time I incarnated, though, I remembered our battle with Tetlumage so clearly, I asked everyone I met until I could find out what happened." They chortled inside the darkness of their hooded cloak. "It seems the way history remembers it, Jakk tracked down and slew the mighty beast by himself. Damned fool actually tried that, and almost got his head bit off for his trouble!"
"That's a weird coincidence," Kristian murmured as they walked along.
"What might that be?"
Kristina shrugged. "Oh, when I first started fighting for the Delphi Council, I was working with a guy named Jak the Axe. He got turned into this barbarian by the reality we were fighting in, the Living Land. We fought dinosaurs for a while, but he got killed when we were taking on this weird tribe of lizard-people."
"Interesting," Wren replied.
"You ever hear of that happening before? What's it mean?"
A shrug. "Who knows? Reality is a complicated thing, it would seem. A confused mage like me certainly isn't an authority on its inner workings."
"Confused?" Kristina asked. That was the last way she'd been expecting Wren to describe themselves with.
"Well, I know what I know. But you know what you know, and that's many things that I don't," said Wren, turning and giving a friendly smile. "There are mysteries that will probably never be mastered, no matter what world the people trying to solve them come from. Even wizards."
"So you're just figuring things out as you go along too, huh?" Kristina asked now, an amused smile of her own forming. "Even though you're this big deal wizard."
A mischievous glint passed across Wren's eyes. "I'll let you in on a secret: mages only pretend they know everything, to get people to do things for them."
"You know, I believe that."
The sun seemed to stay fixed where it was, but no matter how the Storm Knights pressed on, the outline of the village in the distance didn't seem to get any closer.
So intense was the heat, and so focused were they on getting to their destination, the cloud of dust from galloping horses seemed to come out of nowhere.
"There! Look!" Sophia cried to the others and pointed, the horsemen coming up from behind. Directly the way they'd been walking after abandoning the crashed plane. Within seconds the riders, a group of bearded men in Bedouin headscarves and robes, slowed down as they approached the Storm Knights.
"What do we do?" Kristina asked, starting to sling her gun off her back, but Ghost held out his hand to stop her.
"They're following us, so they obviously saw the plane get shot down," he said. "Obviously, we have to be subversives if imperial planes attacked us. But they're coming slow now, so they aren't interested in just killing us. I say we see what they want. Maybe they're even friendly."
"I'll never understand this world of yours," Sophia muttered to herself. She didn't miss Ghost putting his mask on, however.
The horsemen formed a circle around their group, making their intention clear, but also had their rifles aimed at the Storm Knights. One horseman hung back, but loudly demanded, "What brings you here?"
All eyes were on Ghost, since this was his world, his crazy plan. He said, "We've come to stop the lackeys of the pharaoh from finding a source of great power hidden at Abkhemurna."
Slowly, deliberately, the spokesman stroked his beard. "We have seen the pharaoh's lackeys gathered at that place. They are digging something up, that is obvious. If you know so much, perhaps you even know what it is they seek."
Shafira immediately joined in. "A gem." She froze for a second as all the armed horsemen shifted their gaze to her, but recovered fast. "A gem whose previous owner used it to overthrow his pharaoh."
"That is dire news," said the leader of the horsemen, stroking at his beard again. "And whose aims do you serve in acquiring such a treasure for yourselves?"
Ghost took the lead again by answering, "We come on behalf of the Delphi Council. Their cause is to fight invaders like the pharaoh and protect their world."
"I see. Then answer me one last, burning question I have," the leader said, focusing on Ghost's masked face. "Have I not seen you before, somewhere?"
"Maybe," Ghost said impassively. "I've been around, but I don't remember ever being to this Abu Minqar place."
Suddenly one of the other horsemen spoke up. "He's the Ghost."
"Of course he's the Ghost!" snapped the leader. "I wanted to hear him say it."
"What's…going on?" Sophia asked, casting her eyes all around at the horsemen.
Who all burst out laughing at the question.
"My lady," the leader said, "we're no friends of the pharaoh. And we've seen you before, when we robbed a convoy carrying 'contraband.' It had films of three of you," he said, pointing at Ghost. "You must be Sophia Black. You must be Kristina Rouge. But the two of you…you weren't in any of those."
"I am a new member of this band," Wren affirmed. "I am called Wren of Greymarsh."
"Well, whatever you're called, if you've come to blunt the pharaoh's nose, count us in!" said the leader of the Bedouins.
Well, this was a pleasant surprise after a violent welcome to Abu Minqar…
Half an hour later, Shafira and the Storm Knights slid off the back of some of the Bedouins' horses on the outskirts of the small town. Once, it might have been a modernized Egyptian town. Now, it was a collection of low stone buildings with empty windows. Everyone who passed the Storm Knights as they made their way through the streets was on foot, or leading a camel loaded with merchandise under a blanket. Only a single wheezy old car rattled past them on their way. They passed a temple to Isis that might have once been a mosque.
Most of all, shocktroopers seemed to be everywhere, walking the streets in twos and openly carrying their weapons. Their eyes swept everywhere, seemingly searching for any excuse to use them. Fortunately, their numbers thinned a little as the Storm Knights entered the bustling market at the heart of town. Stalls selling foods, knives, imitation antique vases, and everything else below the Nile Empire's Tech Axiom.
Shafira led the way to a particular stall, piled high with bolts of cloth, where a portly man in white robes and headscarf was shouting at passersby about the quality of his wares. His eyes lit up as she saw Shafira at the head of the group. "Shafira, my girl! It's been ages since you were in town!" he gushed. "Is Cairo the only place you can find excitement these days?"
"Not much going on out in Abu Minqar," she replied with a smile, but her face quickly turned serious. "Until right now. You got my correspondence?"
"Ah, yes," the vendor said solemnly. "We'd better talk inside." He looked around to make sure the corner of the market was clear, then lifted some of the cloth away to reveal a trapdoor leading into the back of the building his stall touched up against. Quickly, Shafira and the Storm Knights crawled inside.
Inside the dim room on the other side were racks and piles of every kind gun and ammunition the designers of the Nile Empire could imagine. There was even a primitive mortar taking up space in the center.
"Folks, please pay your respect to Abdul Bishara," Shafira said to the Storm Knights. "A…how did you insist on being called? A covert arms dealer with no love of the empire."
"Strange how many people like that there seem to be, lately," Sophia muttered and frowned.
"Please, help yourselves," Abdul said, spreading his arms. "I'll send an invoice to the Delphi Council."
Ghost went up to a rack of rifles, and picked up one with a glistening scope mounted on the top. He held the weapon in his hands to test its weight and peered through the scope. "Found something you like already, sir?" Abdul grinned.
"Absolutely! I can count the legs on that cockroach on the back wall with this thing!" Ghost responded.
"Sir!" Abdul gasped in mock horror. "You impugn the integrity of my establishment!"
Laughing it off, Ghost sidled up to Sophia and pretended to be studying the rifle. "Something got you on edge?" he whispered to her.
"I just don't like it," she whispered back, inspecting a box of shells that turned out to be a fit for the cylinders in her slayer's gun. "We met those travelers who suddenly agreed to help us, now this fellow offers us any weapons we please. Good fortune shouldn't be counted on. Bad fortune always hides in its shadow."
She was expecting him to say she shouldn't be so grim. Instead, Ghost whispered, "Those are some good combat instincts."
"…do you mean it?"
He shrugged and started looking through the ammo boxes for bullets for his new acquisition. "I know I told you things are different here, but that doesn't mean I don't know about things like lying. Or betrayal. Or bad luck. Pays to be careful, even if you just fight human bad guys most of the time."
Sophia sighed. Quietly, she said, "I wish most of the enemies where I come from were human. You have no idea how lucky you are."
Ghost put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm not so sure the kinds of enemies I oppose are so different. It's one thing to fight evil when it's some kind of hideous demon, right? I think it's worse when the monsters wear the same skin you do."
She slipped her gloved hand over his.
Kristina Rouge tried to hide her smirk, pretending hard to look at grenades and an automatic handung.
Abdul Bishara tried to hide his silent exit from the munitions store.
For all the weapons Abdul was willing to provide, he claimed to have no access to motorized transportation.
Sophia Black had ridden horses a few times during her time as a member of the aristocracy. Ghost had never seen a real horse before coming to Earth. Kristina Rouge had had a pony when she was a little girl. Wren remembered riding on some of their quests back on Aysle.
They thought so, anyway.
So it was an awkward procession that made its way toward the site of Abkhemurna in the desert, the Storm Knights and Shafira riding out across the dunes to the dig site. Soon they climbed to the top of a dusty hill four miles to the west of the city. They crawled to the edge of the hill and looked down at their objective.
Surrounded by barbed wire fences, the site was a miniature city of uncovered avenues, plazas lined with pillars, and huge buildings made of heavy stone blocks. Native laborers pushed mine carts full of sand up a newly-installed track system to the edge of the ancient complex, exposing who knew what other ancient wonders were buried since time immemorial under the desert sands.
All under the watchful eyes of armed shocktroopers, who paced the streets in pairs just like the Storm Knights had seen back in town. Except these troopers were carrying machine guns on shoulder straps and had their fingers on the triggers at all times. No doubt, some very important work was being done there at Abkhemurna.
…but did that mean Hooded Cobra hadn't yet found what he was looking for?
Sophia silently pointed to the building in the center of it all, a slightly taller round building with a gaping door in the front, looking almost like the mouth of a giant monstrous head. Especially with the symbol of a giant eye carved into the stone above the door.
"That's it!" Shafira whispered excitedly. "The Temple of the Eye! It's locked by magic, and only the scepter from those jars can open it."
"It's been opened," Sophia observed gravely.
"Yeah," Ghost affirmed. "Let's wait for a bit then we can see if it's been emptied."
So, they waited. Eventually the telltale cloud of dust of a pack of horsemen appeared in the distance. But the shocktroopers guarding the dig site noticed a few flying banners of the crocodile-headed god, Sebek, the pharaoh's divine patron, and paid them no mind.
This was a mistake.
All of a sudden the horsemen turned and rode straight toward the fence just below where the Storm Knights were watching. Rifles fired and the shocktroopers closest to edge of the site fell, cut down by surprise. Meanwhile, the riders at the front made their mounts rear up and bring their hooves smashing into the fence. It fell into the sands and the attacking Bedouins started jumping their horses over the barbed wire. They started galloping through the ancient avenues, ignoring the laborers but taking potshots at any soldiers who had the bad fortune of being noticed.
"Attention would be diverted, I'd say," Wren observed, giving a wry smirk.
"Let's go!" Shafira beamed, and started sliding down the hill.
Sounds from gunshots were getting more frequent while the Storm Knights entered the temple, and entered a wide room with sun streaming through a circular opening in the roof. There was a layout of temples inscribed with black-painted hieroglyphics separating the Storm Knights from the other end of the room, where stood a pedestal.
"How do we get across?" Kristina asked.
"I suppose we follow in the footsteps of those who've gone before," Wren speculated out loud.
"What?" Kristina asked, but saw Wren had extended one arm from the folds of their cloak and was pointing down at one of the tiles in particular. It showed a pair of footprints from sandalled feet in the dust, forming a trail that zigzagged across the tiles all the way to the pedestal.
While they crossed, Kristina spoked up, "You guys notice how the footprints go both ways?"
"You mean maybe they already did get the good stuff," Ghost murmured.
"No, I wouldn't say so," Sophia replied. She jumped across the last of the tiles and indicated something lying on the floor: a round, red gem. Or a gem that had been round once, with one side having been smashed off against the floor, as if it had been thrown down in a rage.
Wren picked up the gem and examined it for a few moments, then turned to the other Storm Knights shaking their head. "It's a fabrication. Glass."
Kristina chewed her lip thoughtfully. "You sure?"
"Trust me," Wren smiled knowingly. "I've wielded, and enchanted myself, more than a few charmed gems. It can be done with plain glass, but not for long. The power makes them pop like soap bubbles."
"So this isn't the real jewel," murmured Shafira, "and whoever thought it was, wasn't happy to learn the truth. Which means the real gem may still be here." She stepped up to the pedestal, pressed her palm flat against it, then pushed downward.
The pedestal moved.
And with a loud grinding of untended gears, part of the back wall slid away, revealing a hidden passage.
Getting out flashlights, they started inside.
A narrow room greeted the Storm Knights after a trip down a short, dark hall. Its only feature was eight stone slabs, spread out evenly across the room's space. Atop most of them were bodies covered in stained linen wrappings.
Mummies.
Kristina shivered, gripping her gun in both hands. Wren looked back at her. "Is something bothering you?" they asked her.
"Are we sure those won't come to life?"
"Is that something the dead of this world are known to do?" Wren asked in reply.
Ghost shrugged. "I mean, I've heard of mummies coming to life and attacking intruders in their tombs. Never saw it myself. Haven't gone on too many of these tomb raids, personally."
Sophia made a low sound of dissatisfaction in her throat. "It seems the dead can never stay buried, no matter what world it is."
One of them sat up and turned its head to face them.
"IT'S ALIVE!" Kristina screeched and whirled toward it and opened fire. She emptied a whole magazine into the mummy before it'd even climbed down from the slab where it'd lain.
But climb down from the slab it did. Puffs of dust drifted from the bullet holes Kristina had punched through its body. With the slowness of death the other mummies stood up also, reaching out with their bandaged hands to squeeze the life from the Storm Knights' bodies. Ghost and Sophia fired their own guns at the bandaged undead. The larger shell from her rifle tore a hole through the chest of her target, and though the mummy clutched the wound for a moment in obvious pain, it only kept coming.
"Go! Into the tomb!" ordered Wren. "I'll try something else!"
"Into the tomb?!" Kristina repeated in disbelief.
"We've come a little far to back out now," Ghost replied. He charged into the door on the other side of the room as Wren directed. Sophia fired at the same mummy she'd hit before, this time aiming for its head. Her shot tore the embalmed cranium apart, and the mummy went down. She followed Ghost into the tunnel at the same time Wren finished their incantation.
A lightning bolt danced through the air from the mage's fingertips, striking the nearest mummy. Its bandages were covered in flames, but still it shambled forward.
And Kristina Rouge hurried into the darkness after her teammates.
As they ran down the corridor crescent-shaped blades suddenly sprang from the walls, reflecting the beams from the flashlights. Those extensions of the ancient defense mechanism swung up one side, then the other, blocking off half the corridor with a deadly blade for half a second before slicing up the other.
Ghost stopped short. Sophia ran into him and almost knocked him into the blades. Kristina caught a glimpse of the blades in Ghost's flailing light and managed to skid to a halt before she hit them. In the distance behind them, she saw another flash of lightning illuminate the hall as Wren attacked with their magic again.
"Those are fast," Kristina observed of the whirring blades.
"What do we?" Sophia asked the others. "I'm not sure enough of my footspeed."
"We take advantage of the advances in the technology of warfare since this was built," Ghost said, smiling in the darkness.
"Ah," Sophia said, with a sly smile of her own.
"Ah," Kristina agreed with a sly smile, and unpinned one of Abdul Bishara's grenades from her belt. She rolled it across the floor to be stopped by a column just before the blades.
As one, the Storm Knights shut their eyes and clapped their hands over their ears.
A terrible noise they only mostly heard filled the ancient tunnel. When they looked down it again, there was a round widening in the tunnel for a few feet, with the twisted remains of metal blades still dangling from their broken armatures.
Wren came running up then, panting and their face covered in a sheen of sweat. "I can't keep this up the way I'm used to," they said. "Is the path obstructed?"
"Not anymore!" Kristina said and grabbed the mage by the hand. "Let's go!"
They made their way down the passage, together now, and more slowly this time in case any more defenses to Nefru-Khem-Un's tomb decided to reveal themselves suddenly. Behind them came the sound of the surviving mummies shambling after them. After another few minutes the Storm Knights arrived in a long room bisected by a narrow stone bridge. Barely wide enough to accommodate someone putting one foot in front of the other.
With no safety ropes. Over a drop stretching into blackness below.
Taking small steps, they started across. As soon as they stepped through the doorframe of the chamber, a shower of red light poured down on them from a carved eye just above. Once they'd all passed into the precarious room, the red light switched off.
And sand started pouring onto the middle of the bridge from an opening in the roof.
Again Ghost went first. He grimaced when the sand started seeping into his clothing. He put his foot down and skidded, windmilling his arms violently as he almost slipped off the narrow bridge.
He didn't.
The masked hero took another step, quickly but more carefully this time. He looked straight ahead, focusing on nothing but keeping his concentration until he'd passed by the sand. Once he was sure of his footing he turned and held out his hand for Sophia. She slung her rifle across her shoulders by its strap and started across next, an uncertain expression cracking her usual Victorian stoicism.
"I'm right here, Sophia," he said, but it was lost in the noise of the sand pouring into the room and clattering over the stone bridge. Still, Sophia seemed to read this message in his lips, and held out her hand and slowly made her way across the sliding sand herself. She winced as the sand pelted down onto her, her heel skidding as it came down on the loose particles.
But Ghost held on. Sophia took another step, much surer this time, planted her foot again and only slid halfway off the bridge that time.
One more step and she was beyond it, still swaying on the narrow span, but without the crunch of sand under her boots.
Looking into Ghost's eyes. Focusing on nothing but that.
"I'll never understand the people of this world," Sophia muttered. "Never in all my days could I have imagined such a ridiculous trap."
"The pharaohs didn't have to protect their treasures from demons and vampires, Sophie," Ghost chuckled. "Shall we see what else they have in store for us, my lady?"
The two of them stepped to the end of the bridge and into the passage beyond. Kristina glanced backward, shining her flashlight into the tunnel behind to see if the mummies from above were still chasing them. Her blood froze when she could make out the lumbering shapes of the undead almost right behind, bandaged hands held out to grab them.
"Let's go," she said to Wren. "Now."
A bandaged arm swiped at them through the doorway, almost knocking Wren off the bridge when it smacked hard against their shoulder. Kristina held onto their arm and started walking side-step along the bridge. First her, then Wren, then Shafira. Kristina winced as the sandfall covered her, but the trio just kept moving slowly, surely, not stepping too hard on the grains clattering off the stone.
And the mummy guardians paid no attention to the trap in front of them, only the prey they'd been enchanted to attack. The one in front put its first withered foot down on the bridge. Its second touched nothing but air and it sailing into the void below.
Kristina shivered as she watched it fall into oblivion without making a sound.
She shivered even more when she noticed the impassive look on Wren's face, who was watching the next mummy fall off the bridge in its mindless pursuit of the intruders.
After they managed their painstaking cross to the other side, Kristina set down her machine gun and flashlight and took a second to shake the sand out of her clothes. Being in the desert and getting it in her shoes was one thing, but having lodged in every crack and crevice was something else. If life as a "gun bunny" had taught her anything, it was suffer no unnecessary distractions.
Wren and Shafira went right past her, not bothering to do the same. They'd already vanished into the darkness, not seeming to worry. Kristina could still feel a few of the sharp grains in her clothes, but grabbed her gear and hurried after them. "Hey! Where do you think you're going in the pitch dark?" she demanded.
"I was feeling my way along the wall," replied Wren, who did indeed have one hand up against the wall as they walked. Kristina shook her head.
"We're in a tomb full of traps, and you're just walking around in the dark," Kristina reminded them.
"A battle's raging above us, and there's no knowing how long that'll distract the guards," Shafira added. "We need to find out if the treasure is really here before they notice someone snuck into a temple."
They wouldn't have to go far for their answer. After going around a corner to the left, the pair of Storm Knights came to a wide rectangular room, and it was evident at once this one had been bult with a floor. Inside, Sophia and Ghost were lighting a pair of braziers at the corners of a rectangular pedestal.
In the center was a statue of the mighty Sebek himself, depicted as a muscular man with the extended profile of a fearsome crocodile. Before him he held out powerful cupped hands, and in them rested a gem in the shape of an eye, but big enough to fill a normal person's fist. Its center had a strange imperfection that seemed to shimmer and shift while inspected. The others stayed out of the way as Wren stepped up and cradled the gem in their hands.
"So, is this it?" Kristina asked.
"Yes," replied the mage. "It houses a potent destructive power. As to the nature of that power—"
"Never mind the nature of the power," Sophia cut them off. "Let's get it out and get away before the pharaoh's forces find us."
"It's too late for that!"
The sneering voice came from the entrance to the chamber, and there, turned red by the torchlight of the braziers, was a masked woman in a strange suit of armor that looked like the chitin skin of an insect. Wren was the only one who didn't recognize her, but took a cautious step away and withdrawing their hands and the eye of Sebek into the darkness of their cloak, clearly knowing a threat when they saw it.
The Grand Cicada flared the wings of armor as soon as she entered the chamber and had the space to do so. She'd probably been hoping such a display would help her seem intimidating before what she said next. "Hand over that gem."
"Not on your filthy life, cockroach," Sophia retorted.
"I was expecting that," the villainess replied, but they heard the chortle inside her mask.
Suddenly she launched herself at Wren, who'd seemingly learned the value of a wizard being evasive, and flung themselves to the floor in time for the edge of Grand Cicada's wing to slice off the bottom of their cloak. Just as reflexively Grand Cicada folded them in and rolled herself into a ball until she hit the back wall of the chamber, rolled back a foot and came out on her feet again. By then all three Storm Knights had drawn their weapons and opened fire. Ghost's first shot glanced off the armored wings on her back, but the bullet from his other pistol seemed to find a soft spot against her side. Grand Cicada cried out in pain and a dark red blotch formed through her suit.
Another shot hit the wall an inch from her head, fired from Sophia's revolver. Grand Cicada turned around and let the next bounce off her wings. "What? Not going to use that overgrown rifle?" Grand Cicada taunted.
"That's a weapon for monsters," Sophia retorted. "Not vermin."
"I'm vermin, huh?!" Grand Cicada screamed and whirled around to face them. "See what kind of bite the vermin's learned since last time!" She splayed the wings on her armor. Within a second they were beating so fast they were nothing but a blur, giving off a horrific whining noise that echoed off the walls, growing even more powerful.
Kristina did her best to aim her gun while the room rippled in her field of vision and held down the trigger. Bullets sprayed around the room. A few hit Grand Cicada, but most sounded like they ricocheted off her wings. Wren cupped the Eye of Sebek in their hands and seemed to be chanting some kind of spell, but it was too late. Wren slumped to the wall, passed out. It was only another second before Kristina and the others succumbed.
Light.
Not just any light, sunlight.
They were outside, but it was so bright so suddenly Kristina felt like closing her eyes again. Until a giant shadow came up and kicked her in the ribs to make sure she didn't.
Things didn't exactly snap into focus from the pain, but Kristina's survival instincts made her aware enough that her wrists and ankles were tied, and she'd been roped to the side of a stone column. From the sensation of the ropes squirming and pulling at her body, Kristina was sure the others were tied there too.
Lastly, looming over her was a human shape with a flared hood like a cobra. The Hooded Cobra, of course. And in his tauntingly outstretched hand was the Eye of Sebek.
"Thank you, my friends," the masked villain sneered. "You've been a great help to me."
"Bishara!" Shafira screamed right next to Kristina's ear. "What are you doing hanging around with a lowlife like the Hooded Cobra?!...As if I had to guess!"
Vision was clearing up more, and Kristina could see a retinue of shocktroopers standing guard behind Hooded Cobra and Grand Cicada. Behind them was none other Abdul Bishara, as Shafira had just cursed. He simply shrugged his shoulders. "I am a mercenary, Miss Azar. War is my business," he replied placidly. "It just so happens that when the pharaoh's people came to excavate the site, they offered a very tempting reward for reporting any subversives in the area. There can hardly be more subversive a group than yours."
Sharifa growled and struggled, no doubt eager to get up and strangle Bishara, but it was no use. Bishara was silent, while Hooded Cobra cackled as mockingly as Kristina was sure he could. In a strange way, Kristina was reassured by it. At least in a place like the Nile Empire, you never had to guess who the bad guys were.
"Don't worry," Hooded Cobra interjected. "Momentarily, I'll be on my way to deliver this prize to the pharaoh. You, on the other hand, will soon be given the chance to atone for your transgressions against him by joining the force excavating this site. As the first of many great labors you'll perform for the Nile Empire's glory! Farewell, my friends!"
He left, with Abdul Bishara and all but one of the shocktroopers following after him. With only one guard, clearly Hooded Cobra didn't think their little group to be much of a threat. To be honest, Kristina Rouge couldn't blame him. Despite their successes, every time they'd tried to get one over on the Hooded Cobra and his group, he'd been the one to come out on top.
It wasn't long before one of the robed laborers walked past the column, and without warning turned and delivered a rabbit punch that knocked the guard flat. Before he'd even hit the ground, their savior shrugged their shoulders and their desert robes fell away, revealing a black bodysuit and cape garbing the slim feminine shape underneath.
"Who are you?" Shafira asked, but with an excited edge to her voice, probably from meeting another of the Empire's heroes up-close.
"I'm called the Raven," the woman asked, holding up her hand. Suddenly a pair of curved blades popped from the top of her gauntlet. She reached out and cut through one of the ropes holding them to the column.
"Another one of your bunch, Ghost?" Sophia asked.
Raven arched an eyebrow, and leaned around the column to get a better look. "You're the Ghost?" she asked, her question tinged with disbelief. Then she let out a gasp. "It is you! You and your little group, from the films!"
"Excuse me—" Kristina started to interrupt, but Sophia beat her to it.
"Yes, yes, it's all very captivating! While we dangle here greeting our public, that Hooded Cobra's getting away with the gem!"
"…right," Raven caught herself, and cut the rest of their ropes. "I overheard Hooded Cobra say he's taking a train bound for Thebes. Abdul Bishara hopes that for his part in this, he'll be rewarded with a high-ranking position, and they were having quite the conversation about it." The ropes fell away, and Raven pointed in one direction. "The motor pool is that way. Help yourselves to something, but make sure Hooded Cobra doesn't get away. I'll make sure the soldiers are distracted."
Kristina shook Raven's hand. "Thanks, but what about you?"
Raven shook her head. "Never mind about me, the important thing is keeping that artifact out of the pharaoh's hands. But…put this in the phone both at Terminal 3 in Ramses Station in Cairo. I'll contact you there." She pushed a wooden nickel into Ghost's gloved hand, engraved to show the image of a swooping raven, then dashed away, and the group hurried off in the direction she'd indicated.
An explosion and a billowing fireball from the other side of the camp reminded the Storm Knights to hurry. As they approached a Quonset hut on the edge of the dig site, a group of shocktroopers came running out, clutching their weapons. A sight that made Ghost's fingers itch; they'd been disarmed when they were captured, of course, and his weapons belt was empty. Not a situation he wanted to be in when he was about to find himself in mortal combat with one of the Empire's villains.
Inside, the building was abandoned. Hopefully, the troops were taking no chances with two attacks on their camp in one day. A number of vehicles greeted them, like a wine-red roadster, four jeeps, two canvas-backed military trucks, and a small cluster of motorcycles.
Immediately, Kristina Rouge started jogging over to one of the jeeps with a heavy machine gun mounted on the back and jumped into the driver's seat. She turned the key, already in the ignition, and the powerful engine came to life.
"Got a favorite, have you?" Ghost called, smirking.
"You know, when I got here, I hated how old these things felt!" Kristina grinned back. "Now, I don't know how I'll go back to driving modern cars again!"
"I'll take another one!" Shafira declared. "Can't put all our eggs in one basket."
"I'm riding with Kristina," Ghost said.
"So am I," added Wren.
Sophia shook her head, sighing in faint exasperation, and climbed in next to Shafira in the other jeep. "We'd better hurry. The game's afoot."
"How'd I know you were gonna say that?" Shafira laughed.
"Well, I certainly didn't," Sophia said, before they sped out of the garage.
A pair of shocktroopers stood at the gates to the camp, and waved frantically for the incoming vehicles to stop. When they didn't, the soldiers hurled themselves into the sand to desperately avoid being crushed. Shafira's jeep was out in front and smashed open the chainlink gate and only kept going.
They turned onto the dirt road heading back to Abu Minqar, where a pair of canvas-covered trucks were already ahead of them. Without wasting words, the Storm Knights went as fast as the rugged military vehicles could manage.
Within minutes the trucks were close enough for their pursuers to see what they'd be dealing with. One truck had a full detachment of armed shocktroopers sitting in the back around a wooden crate lashed to the bed. The other had a few soldiers in it, but the unmistakable figure of Grand Cicada standing among them.
And as soon as she spotted them, the villainess launched herself out of the back of the truck and spread her wings. Then without warning, a rocket on the back of her armor ignited and sent her blasting toward the pursuing jeeps.
"Down!" Ghost yelled before he ducked. Wren went down too, and Kristina did her best to lean down onto the seat without letting go of the wheel. Grand Cicada's buzzing wings raked across the hood of the jeep, leaving a perforated tear through the metal.
"Damn," Kristina gasped. "Ghost, you better get on that turret, fast!"
"I'm going!" Ghost replied. He crawled to the backseat and took hold of the grips of the mounted machine gun. It wasn't the kind of weapon he was used to, but it was the only one they had. When Grand Cicada came swinging around again, Ghost opened up with a barrage that chased Grand Cicada across the sky. She'd been going into another dive, but when a hail of bullets ripped off the edge of one of her deadly wings, Grand Cicada instead leaned away to escape the reach of his weapon and plan a different attack.
Meanwhile, the shocktroopers remaining in the trucks had stood up and formed firing lines. Another hail of bullets ripped out, throwing up fountains of dust as they mostly managed to hit the road with the jeeps veering around wildly to stay out of the way. In the other jeep, Sophia crawled over the backseat and up to the turret gun.
She stared into the back of the nearer truck, her face a mask of quiet disgust. One trooper, a clean-cut lad who looked like he'd probably just enlisted, made the mistake of meeting Sophia's eyes. He froze, let his gun drop from his hands, and took a staggering step backward, managing to fall over the crate behind him. His comrades glanced back to see what he'd done, and that was when Sophia pressed the triggers. Two shocktroopers fell. Bits of wood were torn off the lid of the crate they were protecting.
"Hey! Careful!" Shafira shouted back. "Don't hit the box! Aren't we trying to get the gem back for our side?!"
"The occult is not 'yours'. This world may be different, but I still haven't seen enough to make me believe that kind of power is safe for anyone's soul." She followed up her grave proclamation by shooting into the backs of the trucks, scattering the shocktroopers.
At the same time, Grand Cicada seemed to have figured a defense against the turret gun: she was flying in low, so low to the ground her beating wings were hitting the ground and kicking up trails of dust. So low the shots from the turret gun skimmed air just above her, doing no damage.
Wren, however, slid to the other side of the jeep to be closer to the incoming villainess. "Allow me, Ghost," they said.
"What are you planning on?"
"She knows you, but she doesn't know me. Let me give her a surprise."
It was only a few seconds before Grand Cicada would be close enough to strike again, but Wren was weaving patterns in the air with their hands and muttering arcane words. Just before Grand Cicada could ram them with her wings, Wren held out their hands and a lightning bolt ripped from their fingertips.
Grand Cicada's scream of surprise from catching the bolt full-on could be heard even over the roar of the jeep's engine. Her armor's wings stopped beating, and she awkwardly landed on the back of the jeep before folding them in again. She reached out and grabbed Ghost by the arm and threw a punch with her other hand that he grabbed before it connected with his face.
"You humiliated me once!" Grand Cicada screamed. "I got sentenced to shovel dung because of you! You're not taking this chance away from me!"
"Wren, do something!" Kristina yelled from the driver's seat.
"They're too close," the mage replied.
Ghost struggled with the villainess. He knew the light of madness in her eyes; she meant every word she'd said, and she was prepared to kill him to avoid more disgrace. Her armor was even more deadly than before, to match her intense ferocity.
Her armor.
Her armor.
It didn't cover her entire head.
All of a sudden Ghost lashed out with a headbutt. Grand Cicada's head jerked back and her grip on Ghost's arm fell away. Ghost didn't let go of her, though. With killer precision he slammed his free fist into the bloodied spot in Cicada's side. She recovered enough to let out a shriek of pain, which turned into a yell of surprise when Ghost grabbed her other arm and flipped her off the back of the truck.
A split-second before she would've bounced off the road, Grand Cicada spread her wings and blasted her rocket pack. She rose into the air, leaving a dramatic plume of flame behind her. It made Ghost's blood boil.
The shape of the engine, the tubes, the propulsion jet, he'd recognized how they were all the same as the rocket packs worn by the Rocket Rangers he'd known back on Terra. Armored champions of justice. Several had joined Dr. Frest's expedition to Core Earth to help fight evil there. Perhaps not friends to Ghost, but allies. Fellow people willing to leave their world behind, and risk it all to stop the spread of evil.
For Grand Cicada to have a rocket pack just like one of theirs, it must've been taken from a fallen Rocket Ranger.
And given to that bug.
He gripped the turret gun again and trained it on Grand Cicada as she tried to arc into the sky for another attack. Another attack he wouldn't let her make. The trail of bullets got closer, closer, until they were dinging off her wings. Then one connected with Grand Cicada's rocket pack, a mighty fireball engulfed her body before coming down in a sand dune.
Ghost let out a sigh, let go of the gun, and slid into the backseat, spent.
Meanwhile, the shocktroopers in the trucks who still stood had seen the villain who'd been there to oversee them go down in flames. Between that and the casualties they'd sustained thanks to Sophia Black, they had gotten very desperate.
Desperation led to them dropping the couple of grenades they'd been issued onto the road behind the trucks.
Sophia peppered the truck carrying the large crate with bullets, finally managing to blow out its tires. For all her bravery, however, Shafira Azar wasn't much of a combat driver. She tried to steer around one bomb only to run right into another bouncing her way. It lodged in the jeep's grill.
Then it went off.
Shrapnel was blown into the tires and engine. The jeep fishtailed helplessly around the unpaved road, slamming into the side of the other jeep the other Storm Knights were in. Eventually they both lumbered to a stop.
In the distance, the other truck continued speeding away to Abu Minqar.
After ascertaining they were mostly unhurt, the Storm Knights inspected the truck they'd managed to stop, and opened the crate in the back. Inside, there was no Eye of Sebek. Their weapons were there—the battered pair of .45's Ghost wore in his weapons belt along with the new rifle he'd admired, Sophia's revolver and slayer's rifle, even a flintlock pistol Wren said was theirs—but no magical gem. The crate had only been a decoy.
By the time the Storm Knights had made it into Abu Minqar on foot, the train had long since left. Sophia had insisted on taking Ghost to find Abdul Bishara to repay his betrayal, but every trace of the arms dealer had vanished along with him. When a pair of thieves showed up at Bishara's old hideout looking to fence their latest acquisitions, the Storm Knights relieved them of the stolen goods, along with all the money they were carrying, before sending the frightened men on their way with a promise to acquire honest employment. With the results of that exchange, the Storm Knights found a cheap hotel to wait for the next train hiding in Cairo's direction.
None of them slept, though. They spread all around the room, brooding. After five minutes of silence, Wren said what they were all thinking. "This Retribution League seems a formidable band of villains."
"I mean, maybe a Legion of Doom like that's a little over heads," Kristina said quietly.
"Did any of you join a war to cower in fear when it seemed the odds were too great?" Sophia snapped.
"Hey, there's no need to get personal like—" Kristina started to reply.
"There is, Kristina," Ghost interrupted her. "Sophie's right, this is a war. I knew that when I agreed to come here from Terra. If you're in a war, you don't get to give up and go home if it's too hard."
"…so what do you suggest, Ghost?" Kristina asked in reply.
"I suggest we do something like the Retribution League did. Make this team official, so everyone we meet knows exactly who they were dealing with. They figured out there's a kind of power in that, so let's use that power too."
The room was silent again for a minute as the others digested Ghost's suggestion. After a while, Kristina asked, "Do you have any ideas?"
"Yeah, I do. I'm the Ghost, because that's what those gangsters said I must be when they saw me alive. Sophia feels like the person she used to be died when her fiancé was killed. Kristina, you let your family think you died when you took a new name so you could fight in this war. And Wren…Wren comes back to life whenever they're needed. In one way or another, we've all been through death.
"What about the Dead Legion?"
"That's a name that'd sell a lot of papers," Shafira grinned.
Wren smiled as well. "Has a certain mythic quality to it."
"A bit melodramatic for my taste, but Nakatomi does keep saying we need to make our mark. A memorable name would help with that," Sophia agreed.
That only left one member. "What about you, Kristina?" Ghost prompted.
"Dead Legion…makes me feel kind of invincible," she admitted.
"Sounds like it's unanimous," Ghost declared with a mysterious smile.
Nile Empire-Royal Palace at Thebes
Hooded Cobra held the Eye of Sebek in his hand as he strode proudly through the halls of the pharaoh's palace with Lady Hourglass at his side, guards standing aside for him down every hall he went. When he was almost at the throne room, however, he met someone who didn't move. At once Hooded Cobra recognized Overgovernor Ramses, one of Dr. Mobius's top generals, and an escort of armed shocktroopers. Ramses looked much like his troops in terms of uniform, but had a gold-trimmed headdress and the muscular physique and darkened leathery skin that came only from a life spent in military campaigns under the unforgiving sun.
"Welcome, Cobra. I understand your recent mission was a success," Ramses said.
Hooded Cobra nodded proudly. "We lost Hooded Cobra, but secured the Eye of Sebek."
"Acceptable losses," Ramses muttered. "Hand it over."
"I am to deliver it to the pharaoh himself."
"Pharaoh Mobius is busy overseeing the development of our newest weapon," Ramses said. "You'll deliver it to me, and after the Overgovernors have completed our current strategy update council, I'll see that it makes its way to his hands."
"But…the pharaoh will be made aware the Eye of Sebek was secured through my efforts," Hooded Cobra tried to insist, his bravado starting to waver.
Ramses snatched the crimson gem from his hands. "Knowing you did your duty for the expansion of the empire is the only satisfaction you need," he sneered. "See yourselves out. You'll be contacted if your services are required again."
Then without waiting for a reply, Ramses turned around and left, his underlings following after him.
Leaving Hooded Cobra standing in the hall, clutching his fists and trembling with silent fury.