Rise of the Fallen Princess (Ahmanet - The Mummy)

Chapter 12 - Prodigium

_"We have them both, sir."

_"Excellent. Take the princess to the containment zone. As for the young man, lock him up somewhere while he calms down. I will speak to him later. Your information was correct, you did an excellent job, agent Carson."

_"At your orders, and thank you sir."

**********

_"Let me out! You have no right to keep me here!"

Mathias had been protesting for almost an hour and insisting that he be released. Wrists handcuffed, locked in an interrogation room lit by white neon, with only furniture a table and two chairs, the young man looked straight at the surveillance camera, knowing very well that he was heard and seen. He had first woken up in a small cell, handcuffed, but was soon brought here by guards. Furious at being treated like a criminal, he walked to the locked metal door and kicked it several times with his foot, to no avail. Realizing the uselessness of escaping, Mathias quickly gave up and sat down against a wall, morose. His head still hurts like a hammer was hitting it. The drug that had been used to put him to sleep had also dulled his memories somewhat, not remembering how he had been brought here or how much time had passed. On the other hand, he remembered his capture by these men in black, but of Ahmanet, she too having been captured and since disappeared. He worried a lot about her, wondering where she was and what could have happened to her. But deep inside, he felt that she was still alive, he felt it in his heart, like this flame not wanting to die and embodying this special bond that they now shared.

But his loneliness was short-lived when the door finally opened, letting in two armed guards who immediately backed the young man up against the wall, menacing him with their rifles. But it was the person who entered after them who left Mathias speechless, his eyes wide as if he were seeing a ghost.

_"Professor Winters?"

It was her, Sandra Winters, but dressed in a black suit and tie and appearing cold and neutral, but signaling to the guards to lower their weapons.

_"Hello, Mathias. I would have liked to meet you again in other circumstances."

_"What the...? Sandra, tell me where I am and what that means!" answered Mathias even more confused than before and eager for answers.

_"Sandra Winters is just one identity that I carry among many others. I am Agent Carson. I understand your frustration but believe me, you will soon have an explanation." replied the woman, assuaged vaguely. "Now let's go. The doctor wants to see you."

_"Oh no, I'm not going anywhere until you explain it to me, now! What the fuck is this?!" Mathias retorted firmly, annoyed and losing his cool. 

Suspecting such a reaction but keeping an Olympian calm, Carson ordered with a nod that the guards subdue Mathias and take him by force out of the room. Mathias struggled at first, but it was useless and he was forced to walk, held to the arms by these armed men and following Agent Carson through a series of corridors of a labyrinthine building that was, to say the least, distressing, almost resembling a some sort of shady military-scientific complex. He sometimes met other soldiers armed in black, but also men and women in white coats, like scientists. Then, Mathias passed in front of a large bay window behind which was a real laboratory, confined behind thick metal doors and an anti-contagion airlock. In this lab, dozens of scientists wearing masks and combinations were studying various things, each one more strange and surprising than the last, one of them extracting tissue from a half-human, half-amphibian arm. Others were focused on studying gigantic footprints, like those of Bigfoot or Yeti. Others were studying the corpse of a... Werewolf?! And also rows of jars filled with formalin, containing even more incensed things, like fetuses of half-human and half-beast beings and notably a human skull sporting sharp vampire-like fangs.