Heliopolis Rediscovered

Heliopolis was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, occupied since the Predynastic Period. Most information on this city come from surviving records, with remnants now existing in the capital of Egypt, Cario. Unknown until recently, an underground city section of Heliopolis had remained hidden for thousands of years, accidentally been discovered by a construction crew out on the outskirts of Cario. The structures holding the city are unstable, and the Ministry of State had denied any requests to set up an excavation site in it, on the concern of the city collapsing and with it the above habitat. Dr. Kasto Tahan, a geologist who's request had been denied by the Ministry, had decided to lead an illegal excavation project in the underground city, having recruited an odd team from around the world to help him with this quest for discovery and riches.

OPEN THREAD:

Arman had been scrolling through his phone browsing Wikipedia pages on Heliopolis on his way out of Cario airport's arrivals area when he noticed a man holding a sign with his name on it. "Are you Dr. Tahan?" Arman asked, drawing the man's attention to him. "No, no." he replied with a faint smile. "Dr. Tahan is busy at work, setting up the project" he said with a subtle tone before reaching out to take Arman's suitcase, though Arman put his foot in front of it. "After you." he said with no explanation. The man stood there for a moment with his arm still extended out before smiling. "Of course, the car is this way" he said turning around. "By the way, I'm Samuel."

In the parking lot was a pickup truck, two other individuals were waiting on the cargo trunk. Arman carefully placed his suitcase on top before getting on. The pleasantries were short, it was mostly a wave and an introduction from each of them. Samuel came to the back and leaned against the side of the trunk where Arman was sitting. "You don't have to be so secretive about what's in the suitcase. There's a reason why you were able to sneak it through security after all." he said prompting the other two to laugh. Arman had considered it, but assumed it was his father who took care of business to be allowed to carry firearms. "Dr. Tahan has all sorts of connections. And you-" he said squeezing Arman's shoulder "Are the muscle."

On the drive, Arman's eyes studied the city of Cario, occasionally saying a few words when the other two tried speaking with him. He had realized that he had never been to the capital of Egypt before, despite being born in this country. His mind wandered, wondering what has his mother been doing all these years, if she still lives in Egypt, or if she's even alive.

"So you're Egyptian?" asked Dwayne, one of the two men "You seem a bit light-skinned." Arman chuckled "Mom is Egyptian, dad... not so much." He tried not to say too much as the topic about his father was his least desired topic of discussion. "Besides I have been living in the US for the last decade, spending a lot less time under this type of sun." he said gesturing at the sweat marks on Dwayne's shirt. "Yeah I guess, I had to load a bunch of sunscreen for this trip." Dwyane laughed. Arman raised his eyebrow "We're going to an underground city, I don't really think you need that much sunscreen." Dwyane seemed perplexed. "I didn't think of that."

Arriving at the project site, were windscreens surrounding the area, the place masqueraded as a construction site with equipment and various tents hiding a fissure on the surface that lead to a staircase underground. Only a few other individuals were present on the site, some actually appearing to be doing construction work, though Arman wasn't sure if they were pretending or not. Samuel got out of the driver's side of the truck and double tapped on the trunk on his way into the site. "Hurry up boys, the doctor is waiting."

Amelia remembered it like it was yesterday, really it was a month and a half ago which wasn't long but pay that never the mind. She had been expecting a few college accepetance letters, her grades were always B's and A's so she had her pick of the litter, however none of that mattered as her top choice was not based on her goal of her science and archelogy degree but rather the location.

The location you ask? Well, the ancient yet still stable lands of Egpyt, well stable was maybe not the right word but it was still a place in the world where humans still flocked she supposed albeit most in poor circumstances if her world knowledge was right, but still when she thought of Egypt she felt buzzing in the back of her head type of feeling, the feeling was coercing her to go yet she did not know why. The thought brought a great smile on her face, the thrill of the adventure made her feel alive and so she decided to apply to ASU, Ain Shams University in Cairo. The school field trip that she took as a middle schooler to some site changed her and it was in Cairo, so she wondered what else she could find in Cairo, she had to know.

Telling her parents that she got accepted into the college they didn't agree with naturally put a off smile on there faces, they were happy but Egpyt was a foreign land compared to England, but bloody hell she was her own soul and she could not imagine a life being chained by her parents thoughts, she wanted to go, and she was going to go. They couldn't stop her anyway she had already made enough scholarships to pay for a full education and had learned the language to such a degree, she was fluent.

Arriving in her university she found her room to be one of solitude, one that only she would reside in for the rest of her stay here, it was fitting considering what she could do, she didn't mind people knowing yet she feared if the wrong people knew, she would have to deal with hunters or something, that would be a totally a drag, best to prevent it then. She arrived early however, about two weeks early to get herself well adjusted but that was just the cover story, as she had other business.

Her mind buzzing in a almost enchanting way Amelia could feel like now she was being called to a specific place in Cairo to go to, no hesitation due to her abundant free time Amelia dropped her stuff off and left, wearing a white plain shirt that read "MDK"  bleached and partially ripped jeans in a fashion sense, the buzzing was getting a bit louder as she felt like it was almost guiding her, guiding her right through Cairo until she found she was at the edge of some place called Heliopolis

What started as buzzing, turned into something Amelia could understand, "Warmir.." the words whispered into her head, it freaked her out a bit but she did not know what the words meant, the only thing she could feel was a feeling to go in a certain direction heading west of her position. The two things she brought, a black face mask and kitty ear jacket. Slipping both on that mostly concealed her face as she bent her legs down, her density shifting to zero as she took a big leap forward, in a way almost blasting off the ground as she leaped nearly half a mile in a single leap, shifting her density back up ever so slightly to make it easier for her to land but not enough for her to lose her swift running momentum with her lightened density.

Closer by the second she knew she was getting close, below her she could see a truck heading in the same direction she was, it looked she was going to have company if she couldn't stay out of sight.

"Ah! Arman. It is nice to finally meet you. Your father has told me a lot about you." said Dr Katso Tahan, who had been standing by a fixture with several maps and blueprints set up on it. "He has?" Arman did not want to think of the bogus type of comments his father would have made about him just so this doctor would be falsely impressed. "Yes yes. You are here to keep us safe, and from what I hear that shouldn't be a problem for you." the doctor replied turning his attention back to the blueprints, skimming his finger against a path leading underground, before he continued "After all, who knows what could be waiting for us down there." Arman chuckled at how greatly the doctor had misjudged him based on his father's comments. "Are you sure I'm not here to get you all out if the authorities decide to show up?" At that the doctor turned his head back to Arman and spoke with a slight grin "That too."

Arman got to the tent where his suit case was placed and had begun concealing a semi-Automatic pistol and a military knife under his garments. He stared momentarily at an MK carbine, but ultimately decided it was not worth the trouble of carrying it. What could possibly be down there? The underground section of the city discovered was buried underground for over two thousand years or more, anything down there should already be dead. Though he does remember reading about a supposed alien invasion on the news some time ago, so if he does end up getting attacked by reanimated mummies, he wouldn't be all that surprised - though he chuckled to himself at the thought. He exited the tent and examined the site, realizing there wasn't really any security around. He sighed at the realization that he could have just snuck in without having to sign on this team. After all, unbeknownst to the doctor, he's here to steal antiques he could get rich off of.

The team gathered around a large fissure on the ground, where metal stairs have been installed to lead them to two separate lifts that can bring them all the way down. They were each equipped with a flashlight helmet, Samuel carried a camera, Dwyane and the other guy carried bags Arman had assumed had other essential tools for archeology. In the back was Dr Tahan, who was carrying a blueprint and a plethora of pens. "This is so exciting." said Samuel while playing with the camera setting. "Alright everyone, make sure your flashlight is working." The doctor exclaimed and the rest complied. Once they were all done, a shared nod prompted them to begin descending the stairs.

As one of the lifts had began descending, the group remained silent. Arman wasn't sure if fear or excitement from the rest, aside from the doctor, who seemed to be absolutely ecstatic. The lift, which was descending at a decent speed, had already been going down for at least 30 minutes. "Just how far down is this?" Asked Arman, who was crouching down having gotten exhausted from maintaining his balance on the way down. "Patience." was all the doctor said, to which Arman raised his eyebrow to "How did you even figure out what was down here?" To that question Dwyane unzipped his bag revealing a drone inside of it before he spoke "The signal got pretty weak going all the way down so we only got these really rough static images, but after analyzing, it became pretty clear there were structures that resembled buildings down there." Arman nodded  "Gotcha." Suddenly the lift was filled with dim lights, and moments later it stopped, revealing to them what was a strange looking city with an unknown light source filling the underground atmosphere.

underground appearance:

This was not at all what Arman expected this city to look like. The structures seemed almost futuristic but ancient at the same time. This did not have the Egyptian atmosphere he expected at all. "Fascinating, where is this light coming from?" said the doctor who had been walking forward in awe. "Is this what you saw in the drone pictures?" Arman asked scratching his head while looking at Dwayne. "Not really" he responded. Suddenly Samuel spoke in frustration "What's wrong with this thing?" He been shaking his camera, the screen on it was all but static. "The camera stopped working!" "Did you bring another?" asked Dwyane. "Of course not! look at the size of this thing!" "Okay, Samuel calm down." said the doctor "Just have the drone take the footage." Dwyane complied and pulled out his drone, it took flight, but on the screen of the controller he could see nothing, only static. "Uhhh..."  "Great." said Arman unamused. "It's fine. We'll have to go on without footage. The blueprints I make down here should be enough. Lets calm down and proceed, okay?" The doctor did not seem entirely calm himself, but the group nodded.

So her initial feeling was correct as the truck did in fact stop at the same exact location the buzzing in her head was leading to her, "This smells like a good trip..~" Amelia whispered to herself as she ran behind a small collection of boxes, her density lightened to the point she made no sound as she slipped behind it and began to observe the people she found herself in company with, well not yet but she might have to.

Not but a few seconds into the conversation she got the impression the military looking guy was meeting the doctor fellow for the first time, the guy none to happy about what his father possibly said. But more than that it seemed he was some type of hired muscle because he was supposed to be protecting the doc? A thought the man seemed to not trust, a misunderstanding that the doc didn't exactly try and correct, bloody hell it was entertaining to watch!

Other than her jacket and mask, in her jacket she did have a ultra powerful flash light, she didn't know what she was expecting from this trip but as the group shifted around the camp and meet back around a fissure of tremendous size did she realize that this must be the entrance to some great underground mystery, now she had to go! Waiting she heard the mechanical workings of machinery, peering around the corner from about eighteen meters as they made there descent down. With each fifteen seconds passing she got closer, waiting a total of nearly five minutes before she made her way to the edge looking down to both hear the machine still running and seeing flashlights through the dark.

"Geronimo~" Amelia said to herself as she leapt off the edge, once again turning her density down to zero as she began to float down like a feather after her little exploration group went down first. Even after waiting five minutes it took nearly half an hour to reach the bottom, mostly because she was trying to stay a step behind the other group to not be noticed although she didn't mind if she was caught, they were all crooks for breaking into a illegal site.

However what would complicate the manner a bit was that when they got near the bottom Amelia logical thinking turned off for a moment as she was utterly stupefied by the artificial lighting that lit up the underground cave, actually with the artificial lighting she could now see this was no mere cave but looked more like a early civilization city yet the architecture design fancied something akin to space age.

landing after them Amelia looked around at the markings on the buildings, until she realized something that resembled Egyptian symbols, some of it had faded with time but she could make out the words, "Heliopolis" A city once famous in ancient Egypt, this day was totally smashing! Attention back on the boys Amelia decided to just join the group at this point, "For a bunch of man some of you seem to be pissing in your pants." Amelia said approaching, aware of some danger from these man but honestly not to worried about it, "This cave is absolutely amazing, yeah? Wouldn't you say Doc, I mean artificial lighting that has sustained this place for who knows how long! I bet whatever is doing that got be some amazing power source. " Thoughts racing, she realized she was rude and forgot to introduce herself Amelia corrected herself, "Ah, my apologies how rude of me. Amelia, Amelia Pond, student of Science and Archelogy, at you're service." Amelia said putting out her hand for anyone to shake.

"What the fuck?" said Samuel, his expression perplexed still holding onto his malfunctioning camera, accompanied by blank stares at the masked girl that appeared out of nowhere. "What are you doing?! pull out your gun!" said Dwyane pushing Arman's shoulder, But Arman just stared at her before looking back at the metallic lift, realizing only the one they went down on is present. How did she get down here? Is she one of those heroes he read about on the news? "Fuck she probably called the authorities! pull out your gun!" This time Arman complied, but he didn't point it at her, he had both his hands on it as he turned around. "The doctor is gone." he said pointedly with a head gesture on the the gravel tracks the doctor left behind. Apparently the doctor could not let the first sign of trouble stop him from exploring this place.

For a moment, his violent tendencies did make Arman want to shoot the girl to remove a possible obstacle. He came here to steal antiques the doctor may find, and he had a feeling having a dead body on their hand would cut the trip short with Samuel and Dwyane still leering over him. That one lift was the only way out of here, and he could not let the two of them leave in it, leaving him and the doctor stranded in here for the authorities to find. So he decided to manipulate the situation. "Why are you wearing a mask, Amelia Pond, if you're just going to tell us your name?" "Arman! what are you doing! shoot her!" Samuel said frantically. "Great. Now she knows my name too." Arman kissed his teeth and rolled his eyes "Look, there is only one lift down here. Safe to assume she came down here before we did, and is here illegally just as much as we are. She definitely did not notify the authorities, and she wouldn't be able to do so now since there is no signal down here." Arman pulled out a small pistol and passed it to Samuel, who went up to press it against her back. "Alright missy, you're coming with us." Samuel said with a hiss in his tone. Arman rolled his eyes again, he wasn't even sure if Samuel ever used a gun before.

The group, now accompanied by a strange masked girl, followed the tracks left behind by Dr. Tahan, leading them to a large temple like structure, with wide halls illuminated by that same mysterious source of light. The tracks stopped at the entrance, with the floor now covered by a marble like surface. "Doc?" shouted Arman, his voice echoing in the large halls, but there was no response. The hall lead two two different pathways, and the doctor could have ventured down either one of them. "Great. Now what?" "Should we split up?" asked Dwyane. "Split up?! we don't know what's down here! the doctor could be dead!" exclaimed Samuel, who was visibly distraught at this point "We should go back up!" to which Arman responded with a chuckle. "You know what Samuel, Amelia Pond-" he made sure to emphasize her name "is right, you do seem to be pissing your pants." he finished with a sigh, and put his hands on his hips. "Yes. Let's split up, and whether we find the doctor or not, we will meet back here. And since she's making you so nervous, Samuel, I'll take her with me and the two of you go the other way."

Almost as if she saw into the future, some of the men started panicking at the sight of her, one stumbling with the camera, the other shoving at the guy with the gun, she looked at it and wonder if she took a shot to the body would it kill her at her max density? Her body language wasn't one of obvious panick like the men, in manner of fact she had her right hand outstretched, her other gripping onto it as she was grinning and looking around since she was unconcerned with the possible choice.

"Oh the doctor is gone? Pity, he seemed to be the one with rather high IQ, other than you gunmen. Absolutely fantastic to meet ya." With the doctors situation in the air the gunmen began speaking to her asking her why she would wear a mask if she was going to reveal her name. "Because it wasn't for you, it was for the authorities, which your lovely friend over there clarified that you're not, besides there bloody shaking in their boots. Look like some poor sods you found on the street for hire."

Naturally even without talking the two men wanted the gunmen, which she now knew was Arman to still shoot her, Arman clarifying how his name was just revealed, Amelia letting off a half awkward grin towards Arman feeling her point was even further proven. "Well, I didn't, I just floated down right behind you guys, the way down took so long because the lifts kicks rocks, everything else checks out though~" It was at that moment the gun was switched and some other dude had it, pressing it to her back as he made it clear he was ordering her to follow. "I believe I was already going to ol'champ. Your wish is my command~" She didn't mean that obviously, she was even contemplating just knocking the gun out of his hand and then choke him out but she decided she wanted to keep the good times rolling so she complied and kept it moving.

Being forced to continue into the cave in a way the path would lead to large stone pillars that hung side by side, a temple of some sorts which would fit within ancient Egypt, praise to the gods and all. The most relevant thing was human tracks, the doctors to be specific but the trail ended at the entrance leading them to a split path they had to choose to take, the answer being divided in which case there was some disagreement, particularly the other two were losing there shit because the doctor disappeared, Arman being the face of logic and reason among the three. "Fine with me."

As they watched the other two skimmer through to the other hall, Arman sighed and placed his gun back in the holster, clearly not intending to use it on the girl. He didn't really care what she was here for since he assumed it wasn't for any reason that would favor the others - but to him, she just added an extra opportunity for him to take advantage of. He was planning to steal something, and now he has the perfect scapegoat for it.  

[color=#cdb432]"Well, Amelia,"/color] Arman started speaking as he turned to walk the other hall "none of us are with the authorities, as you probably figured out by now, so you don't have to be wearing that mask." He pulled out his phone while he continued walking, assumed she was following him. His phone, just like the camera, was all static. It was clear at this point that something down here was interfering with their technology - perhaps the source of that ambient light. He stopped for a second when a thought crossed his mind "Earlier you said you floated down here. He had a slight grin at the realization that no one even bothered to respond to that earlier. "What did you mean by that?"

As they continued walking down the halls, they would begin to notice many signs on the walls, much like the Egyptian glyphs, but more organized. There were drawings of sorts, which they could make vague interpretations of depicting some sort of demon like entity's emerging from the bodies of humans. In some they are worshipped, in others they are fought against. There was one particular entity that was recurring, appeared to look like a malevolent stag with many dead stick like figures drawn around it. They were just drawings, but somehow they managed to exude a true sense of emergency the deeper they ventured down these halls.

Finally, far in the distance, they would be able to spot the doctor, having set up a station by a large stone gate, fortified by golden structures that kept it closed.