Bite The Hand That Feeds

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The lobby of 1 Pyramid Plaza bustled with activity as patrons, employees, and residents alike hurried back and forth between the front desks and the elevators, eager to return to their stores or offices or apartments. The air-conditioners ran at full blast, keeping the lobby at a cool 72 degrees Fahrenheit, in sharp contrast to the harsh afternoon summer sun currently baking the streets outside.

Many a daily routine was shattered when a bolt of black energy, somehow glowing darker than shadow, slammed into the rotating front doors, melting them into puddles of glass and metal sludge. An ebony-skinned, well-muscled man flew in through the new hole in the wall and hovered above the lobby floor. He wore the robes and decorative jewelry of Ancient Egyptian royalty, and his head was that of a jackal, not a man.

His deep, gravelly voices resonated across the lobby, multiple tones layered on top of one another. No one at the Plaza could understand or even recognize Egyptian, but one of the voices which echoed in unison with the others spoke in English. [bg=#000000]"WHERE IS IT?! I can FEEL it. The Hand of Osiris CALLS to me. And I SHALL HAVE IT."[/bg] He pointed his scepter at a series of desks, chairs, pillars, and other fixtures, and more bolts of smoky, sticky black emphemera launched from it, melting anything they came into contact with.

Several security guards rushed to the front door, drew their pistols, and fired in unison at the jackal-headed god hovering before them. He merely waved his hand, and their bullets dissolved into black mist in front of him. A sickly green eldritch light began to glow and pour out from his eyes. [bg=#000000]"Leave, Insects, or suffer my wrath."[/bg] The guards threw their guns to the floor and ran away as fast as their legs would carry them. The concierges, baristas, shoppers and businesspeople all quickly followed suit. Some ran around Black Anubis and out the front doors, while others fled to the stairs, or just hid behind furniture, curled up into a ball with their hands clamped over their mouths.

[bg=#000000]"Now BRING ME THE HAND, or I will destroy everything in my path until I FIND it!"[/bg]

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Elena Guerrero was meditating far below the foundations of Pyramid Plaza, in the secret headquarters decorated to resemble a faux Egyptian pyramid she'd built in her previous life, when the red lights started blinking and the klaxons blared from the hidden speakers. She sprang up from her cross-legged position, and her eyes flew open as her body flew into the air, through the hallways to her command center. One of the many monitors on the wall before her showed the security camera feeds from inside the lobby of 1 Pyramid Plaza, displaying the destructive antics of the jackal-headed god, while another monitor displayed the information the security and 911 dispatchers had just keyed in to their respective databases after the concierge at the front desk hit the "panic button."

[bg=#BF0000]Anubis? Here? What would he want with...No. Oh gods, no. The Shadow Anubis.[/bg] The color drained from Elena's face as her red camisole expanded out from under her clothes, the morphic molecules responding to her psychic command to transform and engulf her in the crimson & gold vestments of The Scarab. She rushed to the teleporter junction room, pressed the hotkey on the console to open a gate outside Pyramid Plaza, directly above her, and flew through, emerging from a swirling blue cyclone in front of the tallest buildings in the city. Her cape almost got caught in the portal, so quickly did she press the button on her epaulet to signal the computers to close the portal behind her.

She flew in the same way the jackal-headed god had before her. [bg=#BF0000]"BLACK ANUBIS! Half-Breed Kinslayer! The power of The Lord of Silence will NEVER be yours to wield. Leave this dimension at once, and go back to licking whatever scraps the other Shadow-Gods deign to throw you, False God! For their mercy will be greater than mine."[/bg] She extended an open hand toward Black Anubis, and a golden light burst forth from her palm, a steady stream racing its way toward him. A giant hand unfolded from the front of the light-stream, grasping at Black Anubis...

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...and with another wave of Black Anubis' hand, the giant golden glowing fist exploded into a shower of sparks and faded into oblivion.

[bg=#000000]"Heru-Ra. Empires have risen and fallen into dust since last you stood before the gods for judgement, yet in all that time you still have not learned humility in the face of your betters. Bastard half-breed though I may be, the blood which flows through these veins is divine. While even with your course and your so-called 'Enlightenment,' you are still nothing more than a mortal who needs to learn his place!"[/bg]

Black Anubis balled his hands into fists, shoved them up in the air to his sides, threw his snout up, and roared. The remaining bystanders who cowered from his wrath felt it ripple through their stomachs, and they shuddered in sheer terror. More than one of the vomited. Inky black mist poured out from the Shadow-God's mouth, enveloping the entire lobby with preternatural speed.

[bg=#000000]"Even your light cannot shine in this darkness, Fool Prince!"[/bg] Black Anubis shouted mockingly as he hurled a bolt of pure darkness at The Scarab.

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But to his surprise, she merely held her ground, still staring straight at him, and floated to the side at the last possible moment, leaving his eldritch blast to burn another hole in the wall behind her.

[bg=#BF0000]"The eyes obscure as much as they reveal. I have learned to see beyond sight. And I don't need eyes to see Evil or Folly that glows as brightly as yours, Traitor!"[/bg]

The Scarab raised one hand to her forehead, pointing her other palm out toward Black Anubis. A scarlet halo surrounded his head. His eyes pulsed bright green for a moment, and he roared in pain and clutched the sides of his head. A drop of black blood trickled down his snout, sizzling and burning a tiny hole in the marble floor beneath him.

[bg=#BF0000]"All that power is useless if commanded by a will as weak as yours, False God."[/bg] Elena smirked behind her mask.