Chapter 7
Mummy A and Mummy B
Earlier in the morning, on the top floor of a small, privately owned factory was the sleeping quarters of a group of people their master called, "Mummies". It was a sick sense of humor on their master's part, but an accurate label for their appearance. Exactly like mummies, the people there had shrivelled yellowing skin, sunken dark eyes and scarce strands of wiry hair atop otherwise bald heads.
The Mummies didn't always look like that though. They used to be like any other human. But then they had the bad luck of meeting the Triad Leader who used his wicked magic powers to turn them into hideous monsters and slaves to his bidding.
There were lots of people from lots of different walks of life with lots of different reasons they got turned into Mummies. Some of them were top members of a rival gang. Others were normal folks who owed the Triad Leader money. A few of them were brave souls who defied the Triad Leader and tried fighting back against his unfair business practices.
One of them, who we will call Mummy A, sat on the floor at the back corner stewing over his misfortune as usual when the doors flew open and in walked a henchman of the Triad Leader. Everyone scrambled out of their bunkbeds to line up and salute in greeting, including Mummy A.
Of course, Mummy A would rather do anything else but show the criminal even an ounce of respect. But thanks to the curse, acting like a loyal servant for the vile villain and the members of his gang was like an uncontrollable instinct.
The gangster took a quick look around at the gathered monsters and then pointed at Mummy A and then at someone further down the line.
"You and you," he said. "Got a job for you two."
Mummy A wanted to roll his eyes. Now what could that bloated toad want us to do this time?
Despite wielding mighty mystical powers, the Triad Leader was lazy and preferred to have the Mummies handle everything from domestic chores in his house to running both his normal and criminal businesses. He even got them writing letters for him. The other official members of his gang were just as bad and did absolutely nothing but boss the Mummies around.
"Alright!" cheered the second Mummy that got chosen. He will be called Mummy B. "First real mission ever! What you got for us, Mr. Boss Man?"
Mummy A groaned. Oh no. Not him. Not that chatterbox.
Mummy B was a recent addition to the factory and was a vigorous young man that was constantly talking, which was how he got the nickname Chatterbox by the others.
Some of the Mummies enjoyed his company. But others, namely Mummy A, thought he was both annoying and an idiot.
"Come with me," said the triad member.
The two Mummies followed him down the stairs to his office where he gave them a crystal ball. Using the glass orb, he showed the Mummies a pearl.
"This is your target," he told them. "The boss want this pearl. You should be able to find it no problem with this crystal ball. He also says, if anyone gets in your way, take them out."
And so, for the first time in a while, with crystal ball in hand and Mummy B tagging along, Mummy A got to go outside.
Now, being a hideous undead-looking monster is not what most people would consider ideal. But it did come with special and convenient magic powers. And one of those powers is the ability to turn invisible, which is why no one freaked out at the sight of Mummy A and Mummy B's ugly mugs as they weaved through crowds at a busy sidewalk. Well, Mummy A was weaving through crowds. Mummy B was doing some sort of stupid dance while singing, "First mission . . . First mission . . ."
And yes, Mummy A and Mummy B could still see each other just fine, much as Mummy A wished otherwise.
Annoyed, he snapped, "Quit it!"
"Oh, right! Sorry," said Mummy B. "We're on a mission now. Gotta take this seriously. Don't worry, partner. I'll be serious. Seriously serious. I am . . . serious."
He cupped his hand over his eyes and then peered right and left with a laser-focus gaze. But Mummy A shook his head, groaned and then marched on. Mummy B quickened his pace to catch up. According to the crystal ball, their destination was a gateway leading into a neighborhood full of narrow pathways which was typical of such old areas.
"So . . . " went Mummy B. "What's your story?"
"My what?"
"You know," said Mummy B. "What was life like for you before the whole . . ."
He moved his hand up and down over his face.
With a scowl, Mummy A responded, "Why do you care? I don't see how that's any of your business."
"I just thought that since we're gonna be working together, we should get to know each other better. You know, break the ice and all that."
Mummy A turned away. And then he sighed and said, "Oh, alright.
"I'm a police officer. Or at least I used to be one. I was part of a task force assigned to crack down on organized crime in the city. Our 'master' was at the top of the list of guys who were long overdue for their day in court, and I aimed to be the cop who gets him there. But just when I thought I got something on him, he shows up in the middle of the night, snaps his fingers, and then I end up looking like I belong in a horror movie. You?"
"I dated his daughter."
Mummy A turned. "You dated the daughter of an active gang leader?"
"Hey, don't judge," Mummy B said with a dismayed frown. "She's actually a really sweet gal. And cute. Anyway, I thought I had my act together pretty well. Been nothing but respectful when I went to introduce myself to him. But he still hated me for some reason."
Mummy A gave Mummy B a side glance. While Mummy A was dressed in a sharp business suit beneath a long, wrinkle-free trench coat, Mummy B wore a dull black, leather jacket with studs, a stained white t-shirt with a really low-cut collar and tight faded jeans frayed at the knees. For footwear, Mummy B had on a pair of flattened, worn-down flipflops.
Mummy A looked down at his own pair of polished loafers before turning his gaze to the flipflops and muttered, "Gee, I wonder why."
"Anyway . . ." Mummy B paused and scratched the back of his left leg with his right foot's toenails. "He really wasn't happy with the idea of the two of us getting married and stuff, so one night, while my honey had girls' night out with her friends, Boss Man came over to my place, zapped me and now here I am."
Suddenly, Mummy A stopped.
"We're here," he announced, nodding to the red gateway sandwiched between two buildings. "And I think I've found what we're looking for."
"Really? Where?" Mummy B looked right and left. "All I see are a guy and a gal fighting over some kind of toy like a pair of spoiled, bratty kids."
Mummy A glanced down at the crystal ball in his hand, which shined a beam of light straight towards said "bratty kids". The thing they were fighting over was likely the pearl.
"You know," he said, frowning, "I think I recognize those two."
"Really?" said Mummy B. "Friends of yours?"
Mummy A snorted. "Hardly. They're both thieves. Pretty well-known ones too. I remember seeing reports about them back when I was still on the force. I think the girl even has a nickname . . . Hypnotist! That's it. She's called the Hypnotist. But why would they have something like a huge, mystical pearl?"
He frowned.
"Oh, who am I kidding? No question about it, they stole it from somebody else. They're thieves!"
"So, how do you want to do this?" asked Mummy B. "Knock 'em out with that neck pinch thing from that American TV show?"
"No need," said Mummy A. "And that neck pinch thing's fake."
Without another word, he walked right up to the two thieves. Him being invisible, they literally won't see him coming, so it should be easy to just snatch the pearl out of their hands and leave.
Or so he thought.
But as soon as he put his hand on the pearl, the Thief and the Hypnotist turned their heads, looked straight at Mummy A and screamed in his face.
"Wha-!?" Startled, he reeled back and accidentally let go of the pearl.
They can see me? How? He wondered.
No time was allowed for Mummy A to ponder the answer, because an instant later, the Thief recovered from his shock, broke free from the Hypnotist's grasp and ran, taking the pearl with him.
"Ah! Hey!" Mummy A ran after the Thief, leaving behind both the Hypnotist and Mummy B.
The two dove deep into the neighborhood, going left and right over and over at random order. Although the Thief had a head start, Mummy A had not spent fifteen years of his life as a cop for nothing. He quickly closed the gap between himself and the Thief, and was just about to grab hold of the younger man's jacket when suddenly -
SPLASH!
"Gah!"
A small, gray-haired granny opened the front gate and tossed out a bucket's worth of dirty water that splashed onto Mummy A and made him stop in his tracks. He wiped as much of the water off his face as he could as the granny, ignorant of what she had done because of her victim's invisibility, closed the gate and retreated back into her house.
When he was done, Mummy A looked around and groaned. The Thief was nowhere to be found.
"Yooooo!"
Mummy A turned to see Mummy B running up to him.
While huffing and puffing, the younger Mummy asked, "Did you . . . get the . . . pearl?"
Mummy A shook his head. "No. He got away. What happened to the girl?"
Mummy B shrugged. "Don't know."
So she got away too. Mummy A groaned. "Well, I suppose that's not important right now."
He looked left and right, and then swore. "There're too many pathways here. He could have gone anywhere!"
"Hey, maybe that kid saw where he went."
Mummy A looked down the road where Mummy B pointed, and towards the end, there was a little girl slowly making a right turn.
"Don't be ridiculous," Mummy A said to Mummy B. "We can't just go up and ask her. Not looking like this!"
Mummy B puffed his chest out while proudly grinning. His smile was the stuff of nightmares. "Don't worry. I thought something like this might happen, so I came prepared."
"Prepared? Prepared how? You learn some kind of magic spell from the boss to change the way you look or something?"
"Nope," said Mummy B. "But it's something just as good."
**********
The Girl was, as usual, wandering the neighborhood, keeping close to the walls to stay out of the hot rays of the sun while scritch-scratching a pink bug bite on her arm.
This is why I hate mosquitoes, she thought crossly. She hated every kind of bug in the whole wide universe, but mosquitoes were the worst.
"Ahem! Excuse me, little lady?"
The Girl stopped and turned around.
Standing behind her was a man in a black leather jacket, torn-up jeans and a pair of flipflops. Over his head was a brown paper bag with eye holes.
"Hey there," he said, raising a bone-thin hand completely stained yellowish-black. "I just got a quick question. You see a guy around my height run through here, maybe got something shiny in his hand?"
The Girl slowly shook her head.
"Oh, darn," said the man, hanging his head sadly. "Well, thanks anyway."
The Girl watched the man leave. Once he was out of sight, she turned around and resumed her walk.
**********
"Well, that went well," said Mummy B. He had just returned from speaking with the Girl, and after turning invisible again, took off the paper bag he had brought with him. "Didn't get any info, but the paper bag worked like a charm."
Mummy A went, "Worked like a charm? She was clearly going to kick you in a not-nice-place if you got too close."
Mummy B shrugged. "At least we know he didn't go that way."
"Doesn't matter," Mummy A said. "Places like this neighborhood are like mazes. There's no way to know where he went."
"Can't that crystal ball tell us?"
Mummy A held the crystal ball up and shook his head. "I checked, but it's not picking up anything."
Mummy B scratched his head. "Weird. It was working earlier. Maybe it needs a good wack?"
"It's not a TV set!" Mummy A wiped his face and groaned. "No other choice. We'll have to do this the old fashioned way. You still got that piece of paper the boss gave you?"
Mummy B nodded and pulled out a slip of yellow paper. According to the triad member in charge of the factory the Mummies lived in, the paper were magic charms that worked like walkie-talkies.
"Good," said Mummy A. "We'll split up. You take the west. I'll take east. Call me if you find the target. Do not engage until we meet up. We take him together. Understand?"
"Yes, sir!" Mummy B snapped a salute, but Mummy A just rolled his eyes.
And then, without another word, he went one way while Mummy B went the other.
<== Chapter 6 Chapter 8 ==>
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