Hisham Selim
Capt. Monica Kwok, M.D.
Blind Faith
Chelsea Wildheart
Capt. Jack McNeal
Jack Parker
Sabrina Knight-Parker
Johnny Quest
Sydney Todd-Strange
Captain Dane Casey
Dr. Stephen Strange
Ken Hollenbeck
Kelsey Foster
Claire di Mosa
Vanguard
#147
Game Date: 10/23/02 - 10/25/02
It’s been three days since the death of Shade in Italy at the hands of the Knights of the Light, and since Forte’s pairing with the secret order he belonged to—the Blade Runners—to find his killers and discover their mysterious connection to a man named Memphis, who seems to be connected to Anubis. The current Forte team has returned from Europe, and the surviving original members of Forte—Dr. Jackal, Phantasm and Mist—have all had to come to terms with the death of an old ally and friend.
Tonight, in the airplane hanger home/business of Lucy “Tinker” Toy, a meeting is taking place. One dealing with nothing less than the fate of the world.
In attendance are all current Forte members—Tinker, Rainier, Dyna Girl, Moonspider, Max, Nightsable and Vortex (with Seahawk still off in Boston)—along with former Forte members Moondancer, who has been working with the team (and especially Rainier…) of late, and Mist. Mist’s husband is here also, the Sorcerer Supreme Stephen Strange, along with fellow mystics Poltergeist, Ravi and Mari Singh, and Blind Faith…who is still in mourning for Shade, as she was closer to him than any of them. Horus, the Egyptian child-god, is also present, still staying in Lucy’s home until the unfolding events that mark his destiny reveal themselves, as are his followers, the Brotherhood of Horus--Hisham Selim, Salah Abul Naga, Issa Nazif, and Sadiki Fahy. The remarkable assembled group is discussing what they know, what they don’t know, what they’ve learned, and what it all may mean.
What they know.
Deep in Egypt’s pre-history, the actual Egyptian gods walked the Earth and ruled the land—beings that weren’t gods but actually of the race of Homo Magi. Among them were the brothers Horus and Anubis, sons of Osiris and Isis. Anubis murdered his father and framed his uncle—Seth—and Horus did great battle with Seth and defeated him, and Seth’s soul was banished to Amenti, the realm of the dead. Then Anubis’s plot was discovered, a plan to both take the throne (he had assumed Seth would kill the young Horus, clearing the way for his ascension) and use the forbidden magics he’d have access to as king to kill everyone on Earth and send their souls to Amenti, the place he really wanted to rule. During a battle with Horus and other gods, he used his magics (he had kept how powerful a mage he’d become from everyone else) to send himself into the far future. As no one knew the exact “when” he had gone to, Horus hatched a plot to have himself sealed mystically in a sarcophagus and kept in hibernation until the point in the future when Anubis appeared. He would then kill Anubis, avenging his father and stopping the plot that Anubis, seemingly, still planned to carry out.
Two ancient orders began—the Brotherhood of Horus and the Priests of Anubis. The membership of both continued through the ages, with knowledge and secrets passed down through the generations, both awaiting the great day and the great battle. When the villain Erebus attempted to steal the sarcophagus in Seattle (see Forte 2000 #140)—knowing only that it was an item of great mystic power that he wanted for himself—he was stopped by Forte, and Horus was awakened from his sleep (see Forte 2000 #143). Now Horus, the Brotherhood and Forte are trying to find out when Anubis is returning, and what to do about it.
When Shade was tracking the ancient enemy of The Blade Runners—the Knights of the Light, having returned to form after their seeming end in the late 80s—he followed them to a hidden chamber below Rome with a vast store of ancient texts and tomes. He died there in a last brave stand, taking many Knights with him, as well as a couple of red-robed men with Egyptian necklaces bearing the aspect of Anubis. Forte, investigating his death and hunting down the Knights, found out that a scroll was taken, and probably to the mysterious man named Memphis who had the Knights working for him to find it. They found out the scroll, when read in conjunction with two others, would bring about something called The Cleansing (a day of final reckoning in the Knights’ twisted beliefs). The man giving them the information, under chemical interrogation, died in a burst of mystical flame before they could learn more.
What they don’t know.
They don’t know who, or where, this “Memphis” is. Based on his name, and the connection to the red-robed priests, whom the Brotherhood are sure are part of the Priests of Anubis, it’s pretty sure that he’s connected to the time-traveling god. They don’t know why there’s a connection between the Priests and the Knights, two seemingly opposing groups (one Egyptian, one very white that wants to wipe out all other races and those with non-Christian beliefs). They don’t know what or where the scroll is. And they have no idea when Anubis will return, but this sudden turn of events seems to suggest it might be soon.
What they’ve learned.
During the team’s two days in Rome, Rainier spent most of his time with the ancient books. As they are in the custody of the Italian government (a fact that deeply annoys both him and Stephen, both of whom would like to spend months pouring over them), they can’t access them as they please, but he did study as much as he could and took hundreds and hundreds of digital photos of pages that he beamed directly back to the Forte base computer. He has, in fact, set up a projection screen with his laptop at Lucy’s place, and he and the mystics are looking the photos over endlessly as the others are talking strategy. Well, and movies. And sports. It’s been a long night.
They think they may have located some information on the scrolls. Stephen has been checking out ancient myths regarding objects of world-killing capacity—most are just that, myths. He’s discovered different references, however, to a set of scrolls. The Singhs, too, have found similar mentions. But in one of the codexes Rainier checked out—and photographed heavily—there’s mention of a being called “The Stormbringer”, an ancient demon that can be summoned, with a set of scrolls, to bring a dark tempest upon the Earth to wipe all living things from existence. It’s said that once the demon is raised, a sacrifice must be performed—a vast sacrifice of many deaths, and violent deaths as well. Suggestions are made that whole armies might be sent to raze countrysides, and that MIGHT do it. Once the demon, and its storm, are properly fed, the storm will envelope the whole Earth, and the big death will go down, the end of everything. While different legends are similar to this, even Stephen and Poltergeist didn’t know of it until the information was found in this book. More proof that this chamber of books was one of the greatest finds ever.
Meanwhile, the rest of Forte and the Brotherhood—and Horus—are discussing the connection between the Knights and the Priests. From the description, it sounds as though this Memphis is using secret orders or societies to help find the scrolls. It makes sense, Tinker notes. Paying someone to find something for you is one thing, but once you get fanatics on the job, they’re going to get it done. And the way he allegedly spoke to the deceased Decker, he was using the Knights' beliefs and convincing him that the quest was all part of it. The Knights believe that this is their final sign from God, and this is what will wipe all the undesirables off the planet and leave it all nice and white. Obviously they weren’t told that the scrolls would actually kill EVERYONE. Moonspider wonders if Memphis is working with similar groups or cults to track down the other two—assuming they don’t have them already (and since they’re all still alive, the heroes are going to go on that assumption). He suggests they start researching some of these groups and seeing what they’re up to. Mist volunteers UNCLE resources for the job (she does command UNCLE San Francisco, after all, and she’s tight with Nick Fury, so that throws SHIELD intel into the mix as well), and says she can coordinate with Forte’s Seattle UNCLE liaison, Dane Casey, in getting all the info to the team.
Horus (eating a sandwich Lucy made for him and insisted he eat) is almost certain that Anubis still hasn’t returned, because he’s sure he’d feel it happening. The Brotherhood discuss the Priests of Anubis, dark mages and foot soldiers that have been awaiting their master’s return all this time. They think the group may now total hundreds of members or more, and they know they’re spread around the world. They’ve likely infiltrated important positions to help with their ongoing quest, something they’ve done in the past (some of them were tight with Hitler back in the day). The Brotherhood, no small group themselves but likely not as large as the Priests, will provide Forte with what information they can. They are, even at the moment, trying to track Priest movements. Some of the Brotherhood haven’t checked back in from their assignments around the world, and it’s assumed that they’ve been killed. This quiets the conversation somewhat as everyone absorbs that. There’s an invisible war going on that the world at large knows nothing about…and one that’s going to decide the world’s fate…and it’s already racking up casualties.
The meeting finally breaks, and Tinker and Dyna Girl have a talk about Horus, Moonspider and Mist have an unexpected heart-to-heart, Vortex and Nightsable have a talk about what happened between them in Rome, Max chats with Hisham about heroism, Rainier and Moondancer have an important moment in their relationship, and later, Tinker and Horus have a talk before bed, and Tinker has a (somewhat) unexpected visitor show up at her door.
(For the full details of the above, click here
to read the story “Interlude”)
The next day, late in the day, the Forte team meets at the old Forte base. Tinker has to be there for what has to be done, and she brings Horus along with her. Vortex arrives late, after a parent-teacher conference for one of his students, and finds the rest waiting for him before beginning. They’re at the old base instead of their own because of the better communication system there. They have some calls to make.
Tapping into the Hero System—the communication network that ties the nation’s heroes together—she begins the first call, and the over-large video monitor on the wall in the communications room comes to life. Knightmare, Starman and Import of the Paragons are on it. Tinker had spent her day putting together a file on the details of what her team had stumbled onto, and had e-mailed it out to the other teams out there, with a request for video conferences. The available Paragons greet their west coast contemporaries, as the whole of the Forte team is sitting around in chairs within the camera shot (save Rainier, who stands, as not to hurt some poor innocent chair, and Moondancer, who stands next to him). Though Dr. Jackal is staying at the base with his wife, Sabrina (Knightsabre), and Nightsable’s younger sisters, he’s chosen to leave the conference to the active team and stay out of the way, a symbolic way of acknowledging that they carry the Forte name now.
Tinker and the Paragons go over the info, with Rainier filling in and clarifying many (too many, in Dyna Girl’s opinion) of the facts. Horus is introduced to them, and speaks with both humility and authority. As their team is particularly used to this kind of thing (whether being magnets for world-threatening menaces or just due to their being based in Cleveland, the unlikely metaphysical center of the universe), the Paragons appreciate the update, and promise to do what they can and stay in the loop, and provide any information that might help, particularly anything they come across in the way of artifact thefts or cults on the move. Import, meanwhile, bugs all of them to come on her web-cast radio show very soon, and brings up the idea of a full-team interview with her, as she’s also the resident interviewer for Paladin Magazine. Now, obviously, is not the time to discuss it in depth.
The calls continue. They contact the assembled heroes-for-hire of Armor Security, Holly’s former teammates, and fill them in, and Holly enjoys seeing her old friends more than she’d expected to. She hasn’t realized how much she misses them. Then they call Detroit and speak with the Enforcers, and all four of the members are available to speak. A call to the Justice Squadron, not surprisingly, yields only a couple of members, as they are, for the most part, a team whose members take care of things in their own cities, not one that hangs around the base together full-time and goes out as a group (until a big need arises). The Sqaudroneers taking the call are Celerity and Isis. A particularly touching conversation takes place between Isis and Horus, and he’s very excited to finally meet the woman who carries the power that was named after his mother. She’s visibly awed to be talking to the son of the goddess whose name she carries, and a discussion takes place about them meeting at a hopefully-soon date when they’ll have more time to speak. They both have many questions for the other. Celerity asks how her old roommate (Sabrina) is doing, and Sabrina is called into the room to speak with her long-time friend. Celerity also is happy to meet Vortex, and says she heard her father (the Flash) dropped in on him (see Forte 2000 #143). She says they, too, have to meet, and soon, and he agrees.
The call to Northguard, Canada’s defenders, is greeted by Bluejay (Jeanette Clayton, the bride of Forte founding member Phantasm, a fact known by some on the new Forte team), Vector (who rumor has it is currently the snuggle partner of Forte’s Tomarssuk), and Shaman. Shaman greets Moondancer, as the two had shared some time and adventures together during her post-Forte travels. Bluejay asks how Dr. Jackal is doing, and Nightsable, thanking her for asking, says that he’s doing much better and recovering nicely, and currently hiding out in another room. After this, a call is place to Angel Flight in New York, which, by the members on the screen, could almost be called Forte East. Former Forte alums Chill and Vanguard are there, along with Vanguard’s recent bride Telestar and Angel Flight resident sorceress, Encantida. Chill and Vanguard immediately want to know Jack’s status, too, and Chill tells the team to spread the word…she just found out her best friend and fellow Forte veteran (and now retired Angel) Eclipse is pregnant again, now expecting her second child with husband Captain Thunder of the Justice Squadron. Encantida lets them know that she’s already had a long astral talk with Stephen today about the Anubis matter, and is already working with him and the other mages. Angel Flight, too, Telestar promises, is there to help in any way they can. Vanguard is already hard at work on research and investigation.
A final super-call is routed through the highly encoded SHIELD frequency. Colonel Nick Fury, head of the organization for countless years, greets the team, and two of the current members of SHIELD’s super-powered strike force, THUNDER, are there with him. Field leader Rio, the Brazilian heroine, and Japan’s representative heroine, Eureka, are the only two not currently out in the field, and listen intently. Fury appreciates the intel update, especially on the Knights of the Light, whom SHIELD has had an eye on. He also says that he’s already had a call from Sydney Todd (Mist) today and is helping with her requests, and has already forwarded her a bunch of highly classified information. He promises to make the scrolls, and Anubis, and the global threat they pose, the current top priority for his organization, and will keep Forte updated regularly.
A conference call is then set up between Forte, Sydney Todd at UNCLE San Francisco HQ, and Forte’s UNCLE liaison Dane Casey at UNCLE Seattle. Sydney has been processing data all day, and brings into her call a twenty-something, rather goth-looking man named Azrael Morrison, her office’s resident cult and arcane expert. Due to the high level of cult activity in her jurisdiction, she worked hard to get him pulled out of the Washington office, where he spent most of his time sequestered to a research room in the basement due to his general weirdness. While not fitting in with the capitol’s spit-shine branch, his work was outstanding, and Sydney knew she had to have him at her branch, where he’d also fit in much better.
Azrael explains the nation’s dirty little secret, that it’s filled with cults and secret societies that keep their activities hidden. Some are easy to spot—gatherings of tattooed outcasts that don’t hide their obsession with the dark very well. Some are more insidious and less visible. There are death cults, secret orders seeking power and influence, and full-on covens that are made up of people you’d never suspect of that sort of thing—professionals, doctors, the wealthy elite. They range in practice from “black art nerds” who merely get together and discuss forbidden things, to societies with active agendas who often take part in crimes from theft to murder, to practitioners of magic who wield great and dark power. Some worship a god or demon, some a set of beliefs, some nothing at all save the lust for power.
He runs down some of the major active groups, while Dane steps in from time to time and lists specific crimes or investigations tied to some of them, and their encounters with different heroes (his area of expertise). One of the major groups that Forte is well aware of is the D’Arque Ones, the remaining followers of Lucifer D’Arque after his overdue destruction at the hands of Forte (see “D’Arque Dominion: The Final Conflict”, at the Forte Expanded Universe web site), and the memory of this makes Nightsable shiver, as this encounter with D’Arque and his followers was nearly the death of her…though it did reunite her with her father and bring her to this Earth. Azrael knows them well, but says their activity level has dropped dramatically. Maybe, Sydney notes with some disgust, as she has more reason to hate D’Arque than of them (he and his consort, Helliquin, this world’s twisted, and now deceased, version of Samantha Parker, had kidnapped and tried to sacrifice her baby to raise D’Arque from his first death) (see Forte (original series) #150), they finally realize their bastard god isn’t coming back. There’s also the Legacy Club, a group of young billionaires that used the seeming elite social club as a front for their real goals of gaining dark power. But most of them ended up dead by their own schemes when they tried to raise a demon and ascend to godhood (see New Paragons #’s 1-3).
And there was the Cult of the Scorpion, a group recently showing up again. Moondancer is shocked at this, that they’re still around. Back in 1994, she, Anvil and Tomarssuk had a run-in with the Cult, worshipers of the mysterious 7th-century man-god known as the Scorpion King, and their attempts to resurrect his stolen mummified corpse (see Forte (O.S.) #287). They had stopped the group—its members with their purposely malformed feet meant to emulate the King and properly use his ancient martial fighting style, and their mystic (and rather disgusting) tongues that they used like whips—and Anvil had made the choice, against the wishes of Ravi Singh, who appreciated the historical significance of the King’s body—to burn the mummy so it could never be resurrected. Their leader, a retired military man named Major Slam Bradley, secretly a Cult member for decades, had ended up in a SISRS prison with the rest of them, but had to be released after his sentence. The man, Sydney tells them after researching it, had violated his parole and disappeared soon after. And now the cult was back in business, occasionally appearing on the radar, according to Azrael. Vortex wonders what they hope to accomplish, as the object of their goals and worship—like with the D’Arque Ones—was now never coming back.
Maybe, Rainier ponders, they’ve found someone new to worship.
The group discusses this as a good lead, as this cult centers on Egyptian myth and mysticism. There couldn’t be an easier group for Memphis to manipulate, and they’d make sense as allies for the Priests of Anubis. After discussing other groups and options, they decide to follow up on this while they’re waiting for anything else to come their way. Sydney says she and Azrael will get on it, and get back to them in the morning. Dane, too, will get to work and start pulling his resources together. With this agreed, the call is ended.
Rainier heads home to get back to his research, and Moondancer goes with him. Moonspider has work to go to, he tells the others—and he does, though he doesn’t tell them it’s to go back to his law office and pull the files on all the Scorpion Cultists and see if he can glean any information. Tinker and Horus head back to her place, as there’s a scheduled meeting with him and the Brotherhood, and a scheduled dinner and poker game after with her, Horus, and Captain Jack McNeal. Dyna Girl has an evening planned with her friend Ken and her friend/business partner Kelsey. Vortex says he has to get home, has some papers to grade…when in actuality he has to meet with his girlfriend, Claire, and spend an uncomfortable night hiding the fact that he and Nightsable have admitted their feelings for each other. Max has studying to get to, as ever trying to balance college, work, and being a super-hero.
Nightsable provides teleports to those who need them, but then hangs around the base to spend some time with her family. She takes a private walk down the copter tunnel, after dinner, with her mom, Sabrina, and awkwardly tells her what she’s going through with Vortex, and the feelings she still has for Seahawk (Sabrina knows about the relationship between Sam and Jared, but they’ve wisely decided to keep this from Jack, a friend of Jared’s, who they’re certain wouldn’t take it well). Sabrina tells her she’s a big girl and has to make her own choices, but that no matter how genuine the feelings are, cheating hurts everyone involved. She reminds her (to Sam’s discomfort) that she went through it herself with Jack and Cincoflex, and what it did to her when she found out. Though the circumstances were very, very different, the pain of finding out the man you love has been with someone else is like a small death. She advises that it’s not fair to Vortex’s girlfriend, and if his feelings for Samantha are strong enough, he’ll do the right thing and end things with her before moving forward with Sam. If that’s what Sam wants. Sam, confused, just doesn’t know. But she thanks her mother-from-the-other-Earth for the advice and understanding and hugs her before going out on patrol for the night.
The next day, Tinker—the how-did-THAT-happen leader of the team since Seahawk took off on his sabbatical—gets a call through her Forte radio from Sydney. She’s done her research and tracked known and suspected members of the Cult of the Scorpion, and found that one of them recently chartered a plane. A plane big enough to carry quite a few people. She’s tracked it and found that the plane ended up in Guatemala. Tinker’s very excited about the lead. Sounds like they’re on the move and looking for something, all right. Plus, she reminds Sydney that Johnny Quest is in Guatemala, still down there on the excavation near the ancient Mayan city of Dos Pilas, where a hurricane uprooted a tree and revealed and an ancient limestone staircase that led to an undiscovered temple chamber (see Forte 2000 #140). Johnny had needed a vacation, and when a glyph expert friend of Davis's had invited Davis down, and Davis had in turn invited Jjohnny along, Johnny had jumped at the chance. He’d taken one of his jets down, and taken Rainier and Max along with him as well…but when the sarcophagus of Horus showed up in Seattle, and all the Anubis business started, the two heroes got teleported back before the jet ever landed, leaving Johnny to archeological jungle fun on his own. Having someone already on site who knows the area as well as—
Sydney and Lucy both drop silent and think the same thing at once.
Johnny.
Ancient, recently-discovered temple, Cult members in search of a lost scroll just happening to be headed to the same country, and Johnny being the biggest magnet for danger on the planet.
Tinker is already doing a radio patch before Sydney can finish suggesting it. Johnny has long has a Forte watch himself, being a member of the Forte extended family for many years (and literally so once he married Phantasm’s daughter-from-the-future, Prime) and one of their biggest resources. She signals him. Her heart gets colder every moment she’s not getting a response. She keeps trying, but he doesn’t answer.
Damn.
She tells Sydney they’re on their way there, and quickly puts out a group call to the team, telling them to drop whatever they’re doing, gear up, and get ready for teleporting. Forte’s going to Guatemala.
The teleports all end at the old Forte base, as Tinker needs to leave Horus with the Parker family once more. Sabrina is immediately panicked at the news about her boss and old friend, and notes that she hasn’t heard from him in a while. She quickly checks in with Questar, and with Johnny's personal assistant, Melanie Pierce, only to find that Johnny hasn’t checked in in two days. Which roughly corresponds to when the Cult plane landed in-country. Tinker tells Sabrina, and Jack, not to worry, that they’re going down to find him, and she’s sure he’s fine. She just wishes she was as sure of it as she pretended to be. Just to be safe, she decides they should try to locate his wife—the now part-time Secret Service heroine, who’s off on assignment—only after they find out for sure what’s going on.
Nightsable concentrates, getting in tune with the Earth and its lines of travel, and gets a feel for where she wants her teleportal to end up…roughly where Davis points out on a map where the dig site is. Her portal opens, and she, Tinker, Max, Rainier, Moondancer, Moonspider, Vortex and Dyna Girl step quickly through, leaving North America in an instant.
They step out into a short clearing between the jungle wall and the rushing Pasion River, near the center of the country. It’s raining, and no one seems to be around. Which is good, as a group of colorfully-costumed super-heroes would tend to draw a crowd…were time not such a factor, they might have planned this and gone in in civilian garb. Rainier borrows Lucy’s modified Questpad—which she’s added a holographic projector to—and pulls up a map of the area and GPS locator. Using what he recalls of the area that he studied in preparation for the trip he never got to take, he surmises they’re close to the mark. Tinker has Dyna Girl fly up and get a lay of the land, not easy with the dense jungle around. But after some recon, she comes back and tells them she found a campsite that’s got to be what they’re looking for. Tinker sends Vortex on his way, and has Holly fly Sam up to show her, so Sam can open a portal there for the rest of them and save a time-consuming jungle trek.
When they step out there, Vortex is already on the scene, and tells them things already look bad. The excavation site is lined with tents and trucks, and no ones seems to be around…excepting the half-dozen or so dead bodies laying around. And, they find quickly with a trace, Johnny’s watch, lying in the dirt. Fearing the worst, Tinker has Rainier take the lead and take them to where the staircase was discovered.
They find it, and follow it down into the Earth. A long musty passage of ancient carved stone, with lit torches lining its walls, leads to an intersection, and further down. As they travel, they begin to hear voices. Soon the passage ends, opening on a precipice, and looks down toward the expansive temple chamber, with stone staircases rounding down on either side of them. On the chamber floor are gathered about forty cultists. Some are standing around, some are looking around, obviously searching for something. And in the center of the room, on their knees with their arms tied behind them to a post that looks as though it once had the same function for Aztec human sacrifices, are Johnny and a couple of archeologists. And standing in front of them is none other than the graying but sturdily built Slam Bradley, high priest of the Cult of the Scorpion.
He’s menacing Johnny and demanding information. Johnny (no stranger to being a hostage) is unimpressed and not being helpful. Johnny glances up and see the heroes, and quickly moves his glace away as not to give them up. An archeologist next to him, however, one who, unlike Johnny, looks quite terrified, looks up and sees Forte as well, but he, instead, gasps loudly. Johnny looks over at him with some annoyance.
Bradley, and after, the rest of the cultists, turns and see the heroes as well. Before he can speak, Johnny calls up to them that it was nice of them to finally notice he was missing. Bradley shouts out to his fellow believers, and they all muster up from whatever they were doing.
“Hey, Slam!” Moondancer suddenly calls down to him, in a tone that suggests she’s spotted an old friend. “Long time no see, big guy. Thought you were still using that freaky tongue of yours tossing salads in the joint.”
Dyna Girl turns her head to her. “Nice,” she nods, impressed.
“Please,” Chelsea grins back at her with a wink. “I was pissing bad guys off long before you cornered the market.”
“You!” Slam bellows, his eyes flaring wide. “One of the desecrators!”
“Yeah, those were the days,” Chelsea says, seeming to think back fondly. “Remember when I taught you the definition of your name?”
“And we thought to bring along the one thing that pisses them off most in the world,” Tinker sighs.
“That’s my girl,” Rainier grins.
“Behold!” he roars to the other cultists. “The destroyer of your god’s vessel! The ender of the promised kingdom! The day of your vengeance waits no longer!
“Destroy them!!!”
“Game on,” Tinker says, whipping out her pepper spray super soaker. “Sam, get Johnny out. Fast and hard, people!”
With a group roar, the cultists start running across the chamber floor, heading for the stairs. Nightsable disappears and reappears next to Johnny and the other hostages, snaps their ropes, opens a portal back to the campsite and shoves them through. Bradley spots her and throws a punch her way, which she barely dodges. Vortex rockets down the stairs and sends ascending cultists flying in his wake. Max, on instinct from being in this situation many times with her, grabs Tinker and flies across the chamber, dropping her low and letting her land in a roll and come up firing. Rainier leaps down and lands hard in the middle of a group of the fanatics. Moonspider runs down the other stairs and starts kicking charging cultists off. Dyna Girl and Moondancer take to the air and go for the ones in the back. Moondancer whips mystical arrowheads from her pouch and starts hurling them, while Dyna prefers to play human bowling ball.
The cultists are just men, but are mystically augmented, and are stronger, faster and have those whipping tongues. Some go down easy, others don’t. Rainier, inadvertently stealing a move from Anvil from his fight with them, uses those lashing tongues to swing them around with. Chelsea takes some out with her arrows and knocks others silly with her spear. Tinker blinds some with pepper spray and either kicks them unconscious or tosses glue grenades at them. A pair hold Dyna’s arms with their tongues (eeewww), but quickly learn that was a bad idea when their heads meet after a big yank from her. Kicks work fine for Moonspider, and punches for Max.
Nightsable grapples and dodges with Bradley, and he’s overly violent with rage. After dodging some shots from his whizzing tongue, she teleports behind him and uses one of her Jackal-taught wrestling moves and flips him, sending him flying. He sits up from the stone floor, enraged, and looks around to notice that most of his fellows are out. With further anger, he begins to shout out something in ancient Egyptian, almost like a chant.
Suddenly the floor around them begins to burst open, and animated corpses of long-dead Mayan warriors begin to crawl out, wielding the bladed weapons they were buried with.
“Oh, great,” Tinker says, surrounded suddenly like the rest of her team, just when the battle was theirs. “We’re in the Thriller video.”
The mass of warriors attack, and the fight is on again. Feeling neither pain nor fear, the corpses have no other thought than to kill. Realizing that they’re dead already, Lucy isn’t restrained by her usual non-lethal philosophy, and she gets a sword off one of them she takes out and starts lopping off heads. With no need to hold back either, Moondancer whips out her mystic tomahawk and starts cleaving attackers in two. Vortex starts swiping swords from them, leaving them for Rainier to pulverize into dust with his mighty blows. Nightsable gets overwhelmed by a pile of them but teleports out and starts punching and throwing them. Dyna Girl is just plain punching heads off, and the headless corpses collapse to the floor. Moonspider gets his arm slashed by a sword, but recovers and fights back against a half-dozen of them that are set on his demise. Max fights on, trying not to lose his breakfast at the morbid sight of the decaying attackers.
When finally there are just a handful left, Moondancer is too busy impaling one with her spear to notice a bloodthirsty Slam Bradley coming up behind her with a picked-up sword. More than ready to avenge his god, he pulls back for a killing strike.
A ping-pong ball-sized sphere of electricity streaks past her and hits him square in the chest. Bradley drops the sword, convulses, and falls unconscious. On the precipice above, Johnny Quest lowers his high-tech rifle.
“I’ve been waiting two days to shut him up,” he says.
The rest of the dead go back to their eternal slumber as the team wraps up. Dyna rushes over and hugs Johnny, glad that he’s okay (though he’s a little disappointed to find out they followed the cultists, not him…). He fills the team in, explaining the cultists had shown up and killed a number of the excavation team (thankfully, there were a minimum of them on site, as most had taken a two-day leave to head into Puerto Barrios for some R&R). They had taken the rest hostage, more for their knowledge of the site than anything else. Bradley had been ranting about a scroll, and about their reincarnated god returning to reward them. Rainier nods at this. All Memphis had to do was convince them that the Scorpion King was returning in a new form, and set them on the path to finding what he needed.
Using vines from the jungle, Vortex ties up all the cultists at super-speed, and binds their mouths so they can’t use their tongues. Johnny continues to explain to Rainier, and Tinker, that the cultists had gotten information that this scroll they were looking for was in this temple. From where, he doesn’t know. And apparently they didn’t know the specifics. Apparently all they had was a location and a phrase: “From a brother fallen”. As he explains this, he leads them to the northern temple wall, and the pictoglyphs that cover it. Fascinated by the archeological significance, Rainier checks it out, explaining to Lucy that this is a recorded history of Dos Pilas. Johnny walks along the wall, agreeing with him, explaining certain portions of the history. He stops at one glyph-covered stone and asks Rainier (while knowing himself) what happened in its history on that spot. Rainier traces the preceding glyphs, following up to that one aloud, talking about the rival city state of Kalakmul overthrowing Dos Pilas, a subservient city established by the king of the great city of Tikal. The king of Tikal had installed his brother in the throne of Dos Pilas, he explains. After the fall to Kalakmul, the king of Dos Pilas was left as a puppet king, but soon rose up again, and, for some reason, decided to go attack his brother’s city, Tikal. After a protracted war, he says, Tikal finally fell, and…
He stops at that point, at the same stone Johnny is grinning at. A brother’s fall. Johnny nods. And he asks if there’s any way any of them can get what they’re looking out of there without destroying one of the great archeological finds of the century in the process.
While Rainier examines the stone excitedly, Johnny goes out and gets a sonic measuring device of his. He tests it first on the surrounding stones, finding the walls behind them continue on and simply stop at Earth. But the one they’re looking at has a gap behind it. Nightsable is called over, and, looking at that, concentrating on the area with her unexplainable sense, she focuses carefully. A small horizontal portal opens up in the air next to her, and an object drops out. Rainier carefully catches it in the air. It a cylindrical case, made of gold and studded with jewels. He removes the top cap very carefully, looks inside, looks at Lucy, and smiles. They have it.
Dyna Girl wants to question Bradley about Memphis, but Tinker reminds her what happened last time they questioned one of Anubis’s errand boys (see Forte 2000 #146). They don’t want them bursting into flames before they can finish. She suggests they get them all back to Seattle, and to UNCLE custody, where they can get Stephen in to see if he can find out if they’re magically booby-trapped or whatever, and find a way around that.
Johnny says he’ll meet them back in the States. He wants to stay around and deal with the murdered workers, most of them local. The local authorities will need to know what happened, and their families will have to be told (and will be compensated, for what it’s worth, by Johnny). He’ll fly his jet back, and now that he knows everything going on back home, he wants to head back there and help. He thanks them for showing up and saving his life. Moondancer kisses him on the forehead and reminds him how many times he’s saved their lives over the years. They’re probably a few behind on him.
After a call to UNCLE to prepare them, Samantha opens a large portal, and the heroes march their captives (or carry the still-unconscious ones) though, right into the lobby of UNCLE HQ. Agents hurry up to start filling cells with them. Quick explanations are made as Commander Edward Castillo comes in for a report, having been kept up by Dane about all that’s been happening. With some pride, Rainier shows them the scroll. Now THEY have one, Tinker adds. That’s one for the bad guys, one for them, and one still out there somewhere. Rainier asks if he can use the sub-basement to examine the scroll, wanting use of their advanced equipment, and preferring it be kept in a secure, fortified building surrounded by a bunch of armed agents at all times. Castillo agrees. Moonspider heads to the “Boneyard” (UNCLE Seattle’s medical bay) to get his arm patched up--which thankfully isn’t too bad—by resident UNCLE physician Dr. Monica Kwok, who finds herself flirting with him against her usual professional judgment.
Tinker gets on the line to Sydney to report, and to get Stephen over there to check out the possibly-igniting cultists. Sydney’s happy to hear the news, but Stephen’s currently off with Poltergeist in a pocket dimension somewhere, consorting with God-knows-who to find out more about the Stormbringer. He should be back by morning, though, and she’ll have him call and head right over. He’ll definitely want a look at that scroll, too.
Rainier heads downstairs, unable to wait to get started (Tinker asks him nicely not to accidentally destroy the world with it). Moondancer, however, wants a shower to get all the zombie dust off of her, and others agree. They head back to their base to take boy/girl shower shifts in the locker room, and to relax a little after their world-hopping combat. Moonspider bows out, having things to do (and showering also requires one to remove one’s mask, which isn’t going to happen around his teammates at this point in time). Tinker, too, wants to get back to Horus, and gets a teleport to the old base, where she collects him from his basketball watching with Jack, and another teleport back to her home.
She gets cleaned up and lets her dog Beast out for his scheduled running around and “T.C.B.”, and starts a meal for her and Horus as she explains everything that happened. He would like to learn more of this Scorpion King, who came to Egypt centuries after Horus had already been sealed up. She promises him that after dinner she’ll log on to the Forte database and let him read all about it.
Before they start eating, she remembers to bring Beast back in (as she’s sure Horus will want to test her patience again by feeding the dog during the meal), and she walks out the front of the hanger to call him in. Immediately, she hears the roar of engines. She sees a couple of souped-up cars go racing by at great speed. Kids again, always coming out to this flat airpark area to race, intent on killing themselves.
She spots Beast running across the airfield and whistles for him, but then hears engines again. More racers. She sees them coming, probably at about 120mph, and sees right where their path is taking them. And her heart clinches with cold panic.
She starts yelling out Beast’s name, and running in his direction, too. The cars keep coming. Beast keeps coming. She starts screaming at him to stop, as if he could understand her. She’s running at top speed now.
Suddenly Beast hears the roar, and stops dead, and crouches fearfully at the sound, looking that way. Lucy can’t even hear herself scream anymore. Frozen by indecision, the dog finally turns and starts to dash back the way he came.
But too late. A 93 Honda Accord slams into his furry body, sending him high into the air and spinning. Lucy’s aware that she’s screaming the word “no” as she runs. The dog drops to the tarmac, and the cars don’t even stop. She screams hoarse curses at them through her tears as she continues to run, finally reaching her beloved pet and friend.
“No, no, no, no,” she says, dropping to her knees beside his unmoving body. She touches him, but already knows. Beast is dead. The ugly mongrel she’d taken in as a pup that had been through so much with her was dead. Tears flow freely from her and her shoulders sink as she hiccups with sobs, petting his head.
She hears Horus calling behind her, but only barely. He runs up next to her and stops, dropping to his knees himself. He says the dog’s name and begins to cry as well, and pets the dog along with her. She shakes her head and angrily spits out unkind words about the stupid kids, and screams after them again, though they’re long gone. She has to put a hand on the ground to hold herself up, she’s so heavy with grief.
She continues to choke on tears and tells Horus it’s okay, even though it’s not, because that seems like the thing she’s supposed to say to comfort him. He doesn’t answer her, and she turns her head to him to see if he’s all right.
Horus has both has hands on the dog’s body. His eyes are closed. And he’s glowing.
Lucy watches him, suddenly paralyzed, and he keeps glowing brighter. The glow is a pure, warm light that’s radiating from him, a light she can feel, a light that seems to sing. She’s mesmerized by it, and by him, and as the light grows, he’s suddenly indescribably beautiful.
And then the light fades. And Horus lowers his head, and takes a deep breath and releases it. Lucy is speechless, and tries to find the words to ask him what just happened. But her attention is jerked elsewhere as Beast suddenly moves.
For a moment she’s sure it’s her imagination, but then the dog suddenly hops up onto his paws and starts circling around, as though confused, now full of energy (more energy than he usually has) and alert. And alive.
Lucy starts crying a different kind of tears, and covers her mouth in joyous disbelief. It becomes real when he looks at her and barks that particular bark of his, with that look that makes him look like he’s grinning. She grabs Beast and clutches him to herself and laughs, not wanting to let him go (though he starts to struggle after a few moments, she’s holding him so tight).
“Animal souls are less complicated,” Horus says, smiling at her. “As their lives and cares are simpler, so are their spirits. They can often be gathered. Sometimes—”
Lucy flings herself at him and wraps him in her arms and embraces him desperately. Laughing, Horus hugs her back. She cries freely on his shoulder, and thanks him over and over. He simply says that Beast is his friend, too, and he is happy that he can continue to be with both of them. Beast circles around them and barks, seemingly not happy being left out of the love.
She clings to him, sniffling, and suddenly feels so complete.
“I love you, Horus,” she tells him.
“And I love you, Lucy,” he says back.
She’s so full of thoughts about what she just witnessed, and thoughts of her little pharaoh, she doesn’t notice for a moment that he’s gone stiff.
Not understanding, she pulls back from him, and sees that he’s gone pale, and that his eyes seem to be staring a great distance away.
“Horus?” she says, suddenly panicked, holding his face in her hands.
He doesn’t answer, but continues to stare at nothingness.
“Horus!” she says loudly, moving up to terrified, and she takes his shoulders and shakes him a little. “Horus, what’s wrong? Horus!”
Horus finally blinks his eyes. But continues to stare.
“He is here,” he says, his stare turning upward, then slowly back and forth, as if listening for a sound far away that can’t quite yet be heard. Lucy’s blood suddenly runs cold through her veins.
“Anubis has returned.”
To Be Continued!
