fiction | Part of the journey is the end

3. The friendly type

Layla was sitting in a studio, getting her passport photo taken. "And then I found him, with the scarab, living minutes from our old place. Now, he's probably going to get himself killed running around Cairo."

"I'm not going to get myself killed running around Cairo," Marc protested.

Lagaro was making a fake passport for Layla. "That's why you look so unhappy to be going home," Lagaro said. "Anxious, maybe. It's been ten years," said Layla.

"You haven't been to Egypt in ten years?" Scott said.

"I pissed some people off and it's better if I don't show my face for a while," said Layla.

Lagaro gave Layla a jar of marshmallows, who seemed delighted as she ate one.

Layla smiled. She loved marshmallows.

"Not worried you might've burned too many bridges? All those stolen relics and cheeky antiques?" Lagaro said.

"Can't steal what's already been stolen," said Layla.

"I don't steal. They've already been stolen. That's what people forget. I take them off the black market and return them to their rightful owners. I might keep a few to pay the bills," said Layla.

T'Challa studied Layla with a curious look. Despite Wakanda's best efforts to prevent vibranium from getting out of the country, some artifacts were still smuggled out. He or any other member of the Wakandan Royal Family couldn't outright be implicated in taking the artifacts back, so he needed a third party and Layla seemed like a perfect option. He wouldn't let her keep any antiques, but he would pay her handsomely for her trouble. He made a mental note to pull her aside later and discuss it with her.

"I can't believe he let you teach me how to do all of this," Layla said, grabbing an Egyptian passport cover.

"Learning to make a fake passport is an important life skill in this line of work. Or at least know someone who can make one for you," said Natasha.

"It is," Layla agreed.

Lagaro said Layla's father indulged her and that whatever happened in that desert was lost to the sands.

Marc stilled, Layla clenched her fists and anger welled up inside of her, and the rest of the Avengers winced.

"Not that lost," Layla snapped.

"It's a hard thing, exhuming the pain of the past. Easy to get stuck. Fixate on what's hurt us," Lagaro said. Layla said she wouldn't do either.

Layla disagreed and decided that she would fixate on what was hurting her because Marc's betrayal was all she could think about.

Lagaro told her to avoid her old haunts and gave her the finished passport. "Have a good trip, love."

Layla made a mental note to visit Lagaro soon; she hadn't seen her in a while.

Harrow and his cultists trekked through the desert, following the scarab.

Everyone scowled.

"They've already made it to Egypt?" Tony said.

The scarab stopped. "We found Ammit. She's here," Harrow said. He told his cultists that they found Ammit and they cheered.

Their blood ran cold.

"That's not a good thing," said Thor. He didn't pay attention to the details of what was happening in the other pantheons, but he was regretting it now.