The Scepter of Maat (Iha, Revenant, Danny, Warhead, and Samuel)

The elevator door split open revealing a large man, and he was...striking at Iha!

"Watch out!" Mehka shouted through comms.

Iha quickly crossed his arms and threw himself in a twisted dive out of the elevator to the man's left side. It effectively dodged the blow, but a wave of heat singed some hair off his head and made his suit smoke a little. The man's punch destroyed the wall that was behind Iha. You could see clearly though to the elevator shaft and even then there were cracks that pulsed through it. The ground where Iha's legs lay shook as the elevator fell two feet when the wires above snapped.

The android's body felt intense pressure, then pain, and heat from the attack. Something he had never felt before, not to mention the shaking of the building. The energy that was released caused Iha's vision to go haywire for a moment as the system gave him damage reports. An image of a body came up on his peripheral vision, both of its legs blinking red. Words followed, "Severe Bruising... outer epidermal layers.".

His body hit against the hard tile floor, the intense  heat caused sweat to trickled down Iha's face as red numbers blink at the corner of his eye. '220°... 225°' and it was still climbing. The heat off this guy was intense. This must be one of the special guards Iha concluded to himself. Holding his crossed arms as pain from his legs intensified.

Before he hit the ground two monstrous soul like humanoid arms surrounded Iha. They formed a barrier that the man was within, causing him to feel powerless, as if all the energy had been sucked out of his body, frail like. This would continue for a little while after Iha dropped his arms, which wasn't about to happen till he got to his feet.

Sam quickly reached for the railing as that explosive force shook the building. That didn't sound good at all, whatever was going on down there didn't sound good. If there was one thing Sam knew about random explosions is that they were usually caused by another super. While usually Sam would be excited to meet another super powered being, he felt a sense of dread. Between all the gunfire, this was probably meant for intention to hurt, not to save. He would have to hurry down and do what he could to stop this.

Sam looked over the railing and down into the seemingly endless descent of stairs. An idea suddenly popped into his head! He did work in the circus for awhile and while he had never done this before it was at least similar, right? He hopped up on the railing and took a deep breath. He then leaped down, grabbing the railing on the next level. He continued this, jumping downward, railing to railing in diagonal motions, quickening his descent.

It had been a long time since he had done any form of acrobatics so finally having an excuse to brought a large smile to his face. He was even laughing despite the explosions and gunfire echoing from all around. "PARKOR!" He shouted downward, not caring who or what would've heard him.

The descent downward was quick and before he knew it, and a bit to his disappointment, he was at the bottom. He looked up at the long stairwell and let out a breath, wiping some sweat from his brow. After taking a moment to catch his breath he turned to face the door, whatever was behind here caused the explosion...and the staff would be there too. He reached for the door handle and began to open the door.

Warhead would then whip around throwing his fist once more in Iha's direction. The attack on his life force wouldn't have as much of an effect as Iha would've hoped for, but he gets a slight bit more sluggish in his already relatively heavy steps. The punch wouldn't shatter the Time Space continuum or vaporize a person, but despite the magic, it would have a much better impact than a heavyweight boxer with a pretty good amount of energy thrown outward.


In the scepter room, the armed soldiers with the scepter in a containment unit, would escort Mr. Pain, the arms dealer, into an underground garage, where they enter completely different black SUVs, sedans, and the leader of the squad hops on a motorcycle. The lead radios Warhead. "Sir, the packages are secure. We might need backup." Warhead would reply "I'll be on my way. Just have to deal with a pest." The vehicles start going up to the surface through a set of elevators. The entrance/exit of the underground garage would be a small distance from the main compound.

Luke continues to plummet down the shaft, then he sees an opening, he slams through the opening. Suddenly he feels like he just got hit by a nuclear bomb, he feels like, like... He can't see.

Luke tried to scream, but he couldn't, he tried hearing what was happening, he couldn't. Then it donned on him, he just got his frickin head blown off. His body slammed against something, and was propped up, he was, stuck. But he didn't want to move, too risky, he might hit someone other than his target. He remember the odd sensation, being deprived of every sense but touch, it felt almost dreamlike. He wondered what was going on, other then the stitching of his wounds, he couldn't feel much, he just kind of sat, and waited.

Then he felt it, a bit of... growth, on the base of his shoulders, his head was growing back. Tissue molded and stretched, it expanded, then fixed itself. First bone, he could feel a neck being built, along with a skull, and a jaw, followed by teeth. Second skin, it stretched around, going over his skeleton like a liquid with a purpose, it now made him look like a mummy, all wrinkly, for there was no flesh. Third flesh, his face was being pumped full of fluid, then it morphed into the right shape. Fourth muscles, he felt the coils of muscle slither through his neck, up to his head. Finally, eye's. He felt two balls form inside the front of his head. Then once they finished molding, he peeked. He is currently inside a sizable divot in the wall. And he sees a quite regular appearing man, then his eye moves over to the door, then see's the guy he was looking for, Warhead. "Aw shit." He muttered from his newly developed mouth.

"Put down your- um..." With his finger never straying too far from the trigger, the man with his face behind a blast shield helmet looked up and down Danny. "I guess put your hands up!"

Danny raised her hands, not wanting to show too much movement or alert too many guards to shoot. "Take it easy, now."

"Put your hands together." A man pulled out a pair of zipties and walked towards Danny as she cracked a smirk.

"Like this?" Her hand glanced over her bracelet, manifesting turquoise blocks with a directive to launch towards the gun wielding men blocking the exits. Danny lunged towards the guard near her in an attempt to keep bullet fire from erupting in her direction. Each block made Danny proud while it made the men less conscious. Danny grabbed the man with zipties by the arm, re-positioned him off of his feet, then flung him to the ground. "That was a quick surrender. You guys are good at this."

The continued sound of combat rang through the wall, seeped through the elevator shaft, and even dislodged the foundation of a secret underground base. Probably not the best place to rupture a foundation- or maybe it was the best place. But, before Danny could conjure a spirit whom worked on the Pyramids, she decided to make her way towards the most safe egress towards the bottom floor.

Safe became a relative term, but that relative was loaded, and like most loaded relatives, Danny could hardly wait til they passed so she could get the loot. "Loading packages? Then what's all that commotion on the other side of the- oh who cares, I'm just gonna ruin their plans." An elevator large enough to carry automobiles began to ascend. Working her magic, Danny constructed turquoise beams to slide into the mechanism of the elevator, trapping it in place and making it hard for anyone to break her constructs. A larger barrier would appear on the other side of the elevator to trap those she snared inside with herself.

"I'm pretty sure you know what is in that crate, and you should really know that it belongs in the hands of a curator." A turquoise shield grew on Danny's left forearm. A crossbow on her right. "Can any of you show proof of accreditation within any societies of antiquities?"

Pain shook through Iha's body as he flew down the hallway, his body coming to an abrupt stop once hitting the far wall. A large puddle of blood drained from his chest through his suit. Burns riddled around it. His vision was filled with blinking red lights and warning signals saying things like, "Server Bleeding... Burn on Epidermal layers... Failing Stomach Organ... Failing right lower lung." It all looked server, but Iha had to ignore it as much as he could. His temperature now around 330° and it was only going to rise from there. With his organs failing and his suit partially damaged, he would have to end this quick or get away some how.

Iha sighed as he attempted to stand at the end of the hall. The man still by the elevator he quickly unhooked one of the pouches on his belt, grabbing at some loose hair he held in his palm and whispered a word, "Anubis". Dropping the hair he quickly pulled the M1911 from its holster and fired three shots toward the large man. His aim wasn't perfect but one was bound to land on him. Iha just needed a moment or two to get cooperated.

A large necropolis raised from down the hall and around the corner. It stood right in front of Iha. Four spiritual foxes emerged from the fixture. Three darted toward Iha's enemy. They moved quick, one heading toward the mans right arm, another toward his right leg, the last one leaping for his neck. The eyes of the Anubis statues glowing Red as they attacked. The man would feel intense tingling sensation followed by server pain as the foxes pulled his soul from his body.  

The fourth spirit fox huddled at Iha's feet. Waiting for a would be attacker from another direction.

"Mehka... I think your... Your going to have to come get me after this..." Iha winced.

"You can do this! Try to focus. Boost the energy on your suit. I can see your vitals from here. Nothing is broken. Worry about your temperature... umm... wait. Sending you schematics of the building, I'll highlight the pipping system." She said in a rush.

Iha's vision flashed. Suddenly he could see all of the cool water piping as he looked at the wall next to him and at the ceiling above.

"The sprinklers should keep your temp at a reasonable level." Mehka said as the microphone muffled.

She pulled off the sweatshirt she was wearing revealing a tightly woven black suit.  

Iha fired five shots toward the piping on the ceiling, the third one had struck the pipe itself causing a cascade effect. The system burst open as water flowed and lights flashed in the hallway to signal a fire has been set.

Water trickled down Iha's neck...

For a few moments Sam hesitated to actually open the door fully. He decided to first crack it open, but upon doing that he found that he couldn't really see enough. He could see the vague outline of a man, but that was about it. With a sigh he finally just opened the door wide and stared into the hall where he was greeted by a small shower of water from the pipe above. The scene in this hall was something strange to behold. There, only a few feet to his right, a bit down the hall, was a strange looking man who was standing in front of a weird...pyramid thing? There was also a fox between his legs. What an odd sight... Even further beyond that man there was a second man who was a giant of a man and...some more foxes heading towards that man. What did Sam miss? What had happen down here? Sure these two seemed like they could do some impressive stuff, but...well, they seemed engaged in an intense fight. A fight that he didn't want any part in, he just wanted to get the scepter and get out of here. He could fan over cool abilities later.

He rubbed the back of his head and stepped out into the hallway, keeping a hand on his blade as he went. He looked to the two men, lifted his arm up, and gave a small wave of his hand, halfheartedly trying to get their attention. The last thing he wanted was for a stray shot to accidentally hit him. "Uhh..." He cleared his throat. "Excuse me, I'm just here for the scepter." He pointed a finger towards the door at the other end of the room. "You guys can keep doing your thing, but I am gonna go. No problem, right?" He lowered his hand and gave a slight bow of his head. "Hope I'm not interrupting! Uh...so, yeah, just ignore me! Thanks you both for your time and don't kill yourselves. It's doesn't solve anything! You're just wasting your time! Try talking it out instead!" He turned around, heading towards the opposite end of the hall towards the scepter room, though, he wasn't aware of that fact. He wasn't gonna risk going towards where that other tall man was, plus that entire wall over there seemed pretty destroyed. If the scepter was once over there then it would probably have been destroyed by whatever destroyed the wall.

He had hoped that the two men would let him go uninterrupted. Either way, he made sure to put a spring in his step as he headed towards the door at the other end of the hall, eager to get out this room with the strange men. He picked back up the whistling he had done before in the stairwell, trying to distract himself from the situation, though he was ready to do something if the other two had decided to turn on him, whether that be using his portals or drawing his blade, though the blade was always something he'd only use if he needed to.

Warhead would merely glance at Sam, before looking back at Iha and Lucas. After someone tried to rip his "soul" out of his body, he nonchalantly aims a finger at the ceiing, cutting a circular hole in it and just levitating to the next floor. He puts the metal disc that was produced by the pristine cut back in its place, sealing it there with another finger laser.

Off of the motorcycles, 3 men in Black tactical gear would stand up, one activates a stun baton while the others use the motorcycles as cover and aim their rifles at Danny. A passenger in the SUV would exit with a container seeming to contain the "scepter". They would look to Danny and say, "This container was made just for a situation like this. It has all sorts of fail-safes to stop you from obtaining this thing. If you kill me, the dead man's switch on it will activate and detonate a charge based on how much magic energy has been built up from the scepter. Same happens if my hand is cut off, or if you even do something as small as to cause me flinch and I let it go, it will detonate. We've been here awhile, so the thing could wipe out this floor or this entire facility. Don't test me."

Luke Look's over as he hears gunfire, as the man beside him uses a pistol and fires three shots towards Warhead. Then he looks over as some weird, large statue begins to materialize, and then four foxes began... flying towards warhead... Then the statues eye started glowing red? As this was already getting weird, he then he heard someone say, "Excuse me, I'm just here for the scepter". He peeks around Warhead, to see another guy. The guy then begins rambling about how they should talk there problems out, then apparently wants a scepter of some sort, and just walks away. Then Warhead, unfazed from the little attack ghost fox things. just cuts a hole in the ceiling and floats away. "I... Just lost my mind."
He lies back in the hole he was stuck in. "Wait a minute..." He thinks, "I cant lose my mind... Can I?" This was, definitely the second weirdest thing he ever seen. But he does remember that one time at the camp where he was in a spar with a Variant 43, Illusionist. "Now that was weird." He confirms, remembering combatting the imaginary furniture demons of his deep imagination. Never before did he fear couches more then the week after that encounter. Maybe another illusionist was in the acts here? Why not, second weirdest thing he's seen so far in his 17 year life span. Yea, its an illusionist. He looks over at the one guy with the pistol, he had a fox crouched in front of him, that was probably an illusion, but the blood he was bleeding probably wasn't, considering he had an encounter with Warhead. Then he realises, if this guy got hit, even a bit, he should be dead, he must be a metahuman of some sorts, maybe... There where so many possibilities of what was going on, not time to discern reality from a dream. He tries to pull himself out of the hole he was trapped in, his ribcage was fused with a few pieces of steel that  jabbed into his body. He released the left part of his ribcage, and pulled. He tore his ribcage off, his insides exposed, his entire left side was gone now, but should regenerate pretty quickly. He walks over to the man, blood being washed away by the water spraying from above, and looks down, holding his hand out. "You alright?"

The elevator became more crowded than the large lift let on. She stepped forward, releasing the construct holding the side door open as an assortment of weapons pointed down on her. Just across the lift came a very compelling argument- and it quickly became a tactical advice to Danny. "So, you're saying I can't murder or maim any of you?" She did need to think for a minute as to what message her image sent off, but then got her head back in the moment. "Yeah, I wasn't going to do any of that."

"What I was going to do-" A turquoise barrier went up to protect herself from incoming bullets and a possible blast wave from the case dropping. "Was a little more restraining." Turquoise bars would attempt to wrap around the hand of the man with the case, keeping it in his grip, then the torsos and legs of the men with rifles first, and finally the man with the stun baton.

If her gambit worked, Danny would be a few steps away from wrapping up the removal of the case from these men. But, then a voice came into her head. Eerie and indistinguishable, but in a very angry context. She began to wonder if her reckless actions caused some umbrage among her bracelet. And what would happen if that anger began to manifest itself?

Water trickled down Iha's neck...

His temperature became steady at 225° then began to drop a little. Water poured down from above him and lights started to flash.

Iha looked over as another man came through a door in the hall way. Before Iha could raise his weapon, the guy mentioned something about the scepter and that he didn't want any trouble... or something. Iha took him for being a nervous person that worked in the building and let him go on and leave as he will.

The foxes whimpered as they looked up at the ceiling, then started to jump back and forth excitedly as Iha walked toward them holding his chest. He looked over to the man by the elevator. His face didn't have a scratch on it, brand-new really. Iha's vision worked furiously for a moment, pulling up small videos from security footage. It looked like footage from New York. He was fighting a guy that looked just like the one that sent him flying down the hall.

Iah noticed the hole in the guys side and was frightened at first. Then noticed the guy didn't seem to be in much pain, and what he can gather from the footage, he seemed to be able to heal.

"You. ok? He... Leave?" Iha asked in his strong Egyptian accent first pointing toward the man's wound and then pointing to the sealed hole in the ceiling.

"Mehka, where did he go?" Iha asked over his comms.

"He's on the floor above you. There is also an elevator moving toward the surface." She spoke while looking at a computer screen.

"Who... you?" He attempted, already assuming the new man isn't an enemy.

Iha smashed his elbow into the elevator button reveling small wires when it broke. He tried to focus as pain winced through him. Then, as if on its own, a space on Iha's belt twirled quickly when a wire pulled itself away and connected to them. His vision moved excitedly, pulling up schematics. He could see the elevator moving toward the surface. It hardly took any effort for Iha to stop it in-between two floors, leaving virtually no way out.

"Umm... 25-...24." Iha tried to convay what he did to the man with the wound, waving his hand in a 'so-so' jester.

Sam, being ultimately uninterrupted, just continued on his way and through a pair of heavy doors into an interesting looking room. He looked back towards the door briefly and scratched the back of his head, a confused expression on his face. "Wow." He started, blinking once, trying to figure out what exactly just happened. "That was really easy. N
Nobody even tried to stop me...I didn't even fight any guards. This was a cakewalk." He looked towards the device that was supposed to be holding the scepter and frowned. "Oh."

He let out a heavy breath and shook his head. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. It never was just that easy. Everything needed a complex plan or for things to get messy or something, it was just...always something. He took a few steps into the room and looked around, trying to find any sign of where it went. It couldn't have gone far, it's a scepter with no arms and legs, there was no way.

Sam looked up at a sign that was over a door on the other side of the room. He let out another heavy breath and shook his head again. It was a car garage. While the scepter thing didn't have arms or legs it did probably have a car. This job just on getting more and more complicated. All jobs seemed to do that. He just wanted one normal job where he could catch a purse snatcher or save some animal from a tree. Nope! He had to sent to another country for a stick. This was really the worst game of fetch he had ever played.

Making his way into the car garage, going down a different hallway and passing through a few other rooms, Sam wondered why a car garage would even be down here. Soon the answer was clear. In the garage there was am elevator big enough to fit cars into. And again...it was in use. He moved over to it and noticed the doors were thicker than the other doors in this place. However, despite the thickness of the door he could hear something going on up there, a commotion of some sort. Another thing to look forward to. Luckily for him there was a small window on the large doors peering into the elevator shaft.

It looked like the elevator was only one floor above of him. Another sign of good luck, maybe things were starting to look up? There were probably guards or another meta or two up there. Charging up there wasn't the plan for this, despite wanting to do so and just get out of this place. Take it slow and easy. First thing was first though! He opened a portal to inside the shaft and skipped through, Using the portal to hold the tips of his feet and steady and finding a groove to sink his fingers into Sam manage to hold himself steady. Opening a second portal he brought himself up to the bottom of the elevator, keeping his feet secured with another portal that he was using to create a groove. There he waited for a few moments, quietly listening to what was happening up there, trying to get a good feel for the situation.

He wouldn't act yet or try to break in at the moment. He just waited and listened, hoping to get some hint as to where the scepter was.

Warhead looks down at his watch and would see an alert about the sceoter. He would continue moving up with the finger laser technique until he reaches the surface. He ascends into the air, high above the complex to see some fireworks. He waits for something major to happen.

"This won't end well for any of us." With his untied hand, he flips up a glass protector covering a button. With no hesitation, he presses the button... You would see a great white flash and when your eyes recover, the scepter container would have disappeared nowhere to be seen. If Iha and Danny could track the scepter or just magic in general, they would feel that the scepter isn't gone. It instead has been magically transported over to the Northeastern Africa region. And now the race is back on!

Luke looked at the newcomer, slightly confused by his accent, but then realised what he was asking. "Oh, this? Um, the answer to the first question is I am uncomfortable..." He pauses, looking at the wound, it was uncomfortable, but he was already recovering, he could see his ribs solidify and then his flesh expand. Yea, he was fine. He looks at him again "But I will be fine. As for the second question..." He looks over at what was the hole, now just a circle on the ceiling, he fused it shut, smart. Otherwise He could have just jumped up to him. He looks again at The guy "He must have some trick in mind, I assume he was uninjured physically, so he's got something going on, may be good if we where to encounter him again.". The new guy looks at him and asks another question, about who he was. "I am Revenant." He says, "I have some questions myself, such as why you are here, and... Are you a... Illusionist? Cause I been seeing some whack images every so often, and they, seem pretty real, like did you see that guy? Do you see, uh... Foxes? Are you the one making these?"
"Damn... I sound like an idiot..." He thinks to himself. Hope he understands... Then, he sees him smash the elevator keys, he then had some wires from the elevator connect to his belt, after a moment he said something about... 25-24? What... do you mean?

Nothing terrible happened. Her ability to say she stopped something from happening would come as hollow. The interception plan failed, but the ultimatum of destroying Danny did not reach its full potential of removing all potential from Danny. Instead, it merely left her confused and surrounded by disarmed security guards.

"Anyone know where I'm going next?" Danny looked around, still keeping her hand on the bracelet. "I need to get that scepter, so how about a little info on where it went?"

"Revenant..." Iha's mind saved the name as he attempted to speak it.

"Uhh... Scepter." He winced, "My name is Iha." He tried to continue.That was actually one of the first phrases Iha had learned.

"No... Ill... Not trick." He attempted again. "My Fox - ".

"Iha, I think he has left the building, I am picking up a bunch of local chatter about some guy flying above the complex. Wait one..." Mehka interrupted over the comms.

Iha motioned for the healing man to follow him as he began to work his way to the stairs. The floor squeaked under their feet as they walked through the water.

"GET DOWN!" Mehka's voice rang in Iha's head.

It must have been the long hours of martial arts practice, because Iha didn't hesitate for a moment. He quickly grabbed the healing man behind him and shoved him to the ground. Iha's body lay on top of him, though supported his body by his hands.

A moment passes...

"I thought it was a bomb..." She said, "No, sorry about that." Her giggle seemed to mock Iha's position. "Let me see here..." Her fingers could be heard darting across the keyboard through the mic. "That looks like a home-seek spell..." She remarked questionably. "Mission's complete Iha, come back to the hotel. I have an idea where we will find the scepter."

"Ok?" He asked Revenant, "Sorry, follow..." He continued.

Pain wincing through his body, getting up wasn't an easy task. Once he managed to get to his feet he would lead Revenant back to the hotel. Hopefully they would be able to get to Egypt without any trouble. Iha knew that a Home-seek spell would lead them back to were the item was created, it was going to be their best shot...