Tomorrow Robin

Into the Pyramid

Okay I've had no reads.  So far the read count is entirely me checking to see this is posted.  I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. I'd ask for suggestions but as no one appears to be reading this I'm not sure there's any point.  Well if you do come read?  WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME!   Happy Day!

Out into Cyberspace you go brain child of mine!

Mission

Queen Bee had the civilian archaeologists under her thrall. By the time they got there, it was apparent that the bad guys had advanced further into the pyramid. They had just removed a large stone slab. Traditional archaeological method had been abandoned. The large stone had been cut free with a diamond saw. Kid Flash procured them some guard uniforms and local costumes. They covered faces for Artemis and KF. Robin did some really incredible makeup work on Superboy and Aqualad. He just darkened his own skin which was pale from living in Gotham and put on a head scarf and dark glasses of a local style.

Kid Flash did a double take. "Dude you look part Egyptian."

Robin shrugged. When he'd complained to KF last month about the gypsy racial slurs he sometimes ran into at school, somebody was all 'dude you look completely white.' "I just have one of those faces KF. It's hard to place the look."

"The beard itches," stated Aqualad. "This is taking too long."

"There is literally nowhere to hide," protested Robin insistantly. "This is our only option."

Whatever was happening was going on inside. Robin snapped some photos of the items in the work tent which had already been removed from the pyramid. He was gathering other Intel. Aqualad begrudged him the time delay and pulled him away. They had a horrible track record in convert operations. Aqualad wanted to stay focused on the main target. Robin looked like he disagreed but he deferred to Aqualad.

I've got a headache, Miss Martian complained over the link. I don't like this place. I'm counting nearly a hundred persons.

Superboy and Robin also had the pinched look of a tension headache though it was quite possible that Miss Martian's headache was echoing through the link a little.

They grabbed some vaguely tool like equipment to carry in with them. Miss Martian camoflaged herself. Robin was just too short to look convincingly like he belonged, though oddly enough he did the best at passing for a local. He was hidden in the middle of their group and hid from line of sight with practised expertise whenever they encountered other workers. The disguises were holding up.

It was easy to tell where efforts were being focused. Flexible vent tubes lay along the wall in one select corridor and you could hear the vague roar of the big fans pumping in outside air. Most of the side paths were sealed still or half filled with sand.

Is there something wrong M'gann, the link is wavering, Aqualad inquired.

Miss Martian looked distressed. They approached the room the large stone fresco had been removed from. Workers were putting up stabilization supports. A passageway had been revealed behind the stone fresco and the stonework changed dramatically. There was a polished finish to it.

The seismic mapping is going to be garbage from here on in. The type of stone is much more dense. Actually this whole area showed solid. That's an aluminum support built in behind where the fresco was. This is nuts. This is no ordinary pyramid. Robin kept his eyes facing front discretely glancing around. If they wanted to look like they belonged they couldn't gape and gawk. He discretely adjusted the map.

They continued into the newly revealed passageway. As they were entering, very suddenly the ceiling self illuminated and an Egyptian dog-headed man in formal robes appeared before them. It was obviously some kind of projection. It spoke a garbled warning as if the audio file had been corrupted then proceeded zombie style through Aqualad, Miss Martian and Superboy. It was just overtop of Robin when there was something like a crackle of light. Robin collapsed. Miss Martian fell to her knees with a moan. The link dropped and the thing disappeared.

The explosive sound of a tunnel collapse could be heard. Klaxons started to sound and the flexible venting collapsed, which was a good indication the collapse had been between them and the exit.

Superboy was checking Miss Martian. Kid Flash was trying to rouse Robin who was unconscious. Artemis was fending off the suddenly hostile company from the rear and Kaldur was doing the same from the front. Dust billowed around them. They put the re-breathers in; KF taking care of Robin.

Suddenly Kaldur was facing Queen Bee and her guards. Psimon was unconscious and being carried. "Miss Martian did you?" Aqualad started but a quick glace told him if she and Psimon had done battle, she was not yet in shape to report on it.

"Let's get out of here and blow the place," ordered Queen Bee. "If the brats are here, the League will shortly follow. If we can't have this tech, it can't fall into the hands of the League." Queen Bee brushed against Superboy. She asked him to help them dig out and he agreed with a beautific hypnotized smile. Her pheromones were not all inhaled apparently.

KF pulled up the map Robin had been working on, then emphatically gestured to a side tunnel. The team abandoned Superboy to the villains. As long as Superboy's muscle was needed, he was himself safe from the villains but a hazard to the team. KF carried Rob, fireman style down the selected tunnel as soon as everyone friendly was all in, he put a foam arrow in Artemis's hands and gestured to the tunnel mouth. She complied, sealing them in. They were in the dark now as the illuminated areas were all on the other side of the wall of foam.

"I hope you had some kind of plan for sealing us in because I don't fancy being the one to have completed my own tomb," snarked Artemis digging out a flashlight.