In the middle of the desert, a group was marching towards some old ruins, a discovery that had yet to be announced to the public.
Found by a traveler and reported to the authorities in the closest town, a little bribe later, the group had free rein for a few days to ransack the entire place.
They were no archaeologists, no museum workers, or government officials. This was a gang of grave robbers, hell bent on finding everything of value inside the ruins and selling it for the best price possible.
By the time the scholars and archaeologists discovered the location, it would be too late.
When they arrived, they expected some kind of pyramid or burial site full of treasure, Instead, they saw a strange, oval grey building that appeared to be made of concrete and steel.
"What the hell is this?"
"Isn't it supposed to be some old bullshit?"
The confusion spread among the would be thieves, the leader, a man who looked out of place surrounded by the bandit-looking gang, was just as confused.
"Curious indeed, this kind of structure shouldn't be here. Why would anyone build this in the middle of nowhere? The cost of the materials and transportation alone would be astronomical; obviously, the person who reported this didn't get a good look at it, they just assumed this was some ancient Egyptian ruin."
This person was Willian Mcelroy, also known as King Tuc, a previously respected Egyptologist who, after a blow to the head, developed a delusion of being the reincarnation of the original monarch.
He was a chubby guy dressed as a pharaoh and holding a cepter while analyzing the environment.
Although rather crazy, he had knowledge and resources that had helped the gang earn a lot, so he was the boss at least for now.
Another person spoke, interrupting the analysis.
"So we wasted our time, there is nothing here worth the trouble."
King Tuc looked at him with displeasure, he didn't like being interrupted and the scepter in his hand started to glow in response to his annoyance.
"Be careful of the way you speak to your king peasant. If you want a tomb, I can make this place yours."
Another reason he was in charge was the magical scepter he was holding, a treasure taken from the university where he used to work. It is only supposed to respond to the royal family, but his delusion was so strong that the weapon couldn't distinguish him from the actual pharaoh.
A drop of sweat slid from the thug's head. He had seen the scepter turn another man into dust for questioning the leader and he didn't want to be next, so he kneeled on the ground and bowed to the boss.
"I'm sorry, my king, I was expressing frustration at the situation, not at you."
Willian lost interest and continued his observation of the building.
"Anyway, even if it is not a ruin or tomb, we can still check the inside and see if there is something valuable for our purposes."
They got closer and found a metal door half-buried by the sand; they forced it open and got inside.
What they found was not what they expected; they thought it would be a smuggler's hideout or a secret bunker for a millionaire, but instead they entered into a high-tech lab, cables, machines and blueprints were all over the place.
"What is even happening here?"
The group was stunned, not knowing what to do. It was evident that the equipment and research were valuable, but they didn't know what to do with them. The contacts and network they used was a black market for antiques and valuable ancient treasures and artifacts.
They didn't even know if it was safe to move the equipment to sell it; they weren't idiots, one wrong move with unknown technology and you could become a black stain on the wall or worse.
In their line of work the chances of getting cursed by some ancient Egyptian magic were always there, yet they knew how to handle it, what precautions to take and how to approach it.
This, on the other hand, was tempting fate, so King Tuc made a decision.
"Let's get out of here. Maybe we can find someone interested in buying information about this place, even if we don't, this is not something we should be messing with."
When they were getting ready to exit, one of the men saw something and walked towards the middle of the room.
"Hey, boss, look at this."
Once again, he felt annoyed at being called boss instead of your majesty, but curiosity got the better of King Tuc and he approached the place where his minion was standing.
There in the middle of the lab was a machine that looked like a sarcophagus, just that instead of being made of stone or gold, it was metallic and connected to several machines with thick, heavy cables.
"Whatever this is, we'd better not touch it."
A feeling of dread was almost choking him, his grip on the sceter getting tighter as he raised it towards the coffin-looking machine; every instinct told him to run away as far as possible from whatever was inside.
Three days later, on a secret base inside a mountain, a group of teenagers gathered to listen to their next mission.
Kid flash the superfast teen super hero, dressed in a yellow suit with red hair and a cocky smile.
Robin the genius boy wonder, right hand of batman himself, wearing his iconic red and green uniform with the R on his chest.
Superboy, a clone of superman rescued by the others from a secret facility, he was wearing a black t-shirt with the symbol of the house of Jhorel, better know as the logo of superman.
Artemis, the recently added member of the group and a prodigious archer trained by green arrow, she was wearing a green uniform and had her bow strapped to her back.
Miss Martian, the niece of the Martian Manhunter and one of the most powerful psychics in the world, she was dressed with a normal looking blue dress.
Finally Aqualad, the hero taken and given the chance to learn under the king of Atlantis himself, he was wearing a red sleeveless shirt and black pants.
They had just recently successfully saved a robotics expert and welcomed a new member to the team, so now they were feeling very confident.
They were talking loudly and laughing at each other's jokes.
When 3 people teleported into the base.
"Recognized batman 02, martian manhunter 07, captain marvel 15."
Batman as always, silently commanded the room. With a single glare, he made all the teens go silent.
"We have a new mission for the team."
A monitor displayed a few images as Batman took position next to it.
A series of images of mercenaries in a desert location and a man dressed like an ancient pharaoh holding a golden scepter.
"This is Professor William Mcelroy, a well respected member of the Egyptology department of Ghotam city university." He paused for a moment "or he was until 2 months ago when he had an accidental fall that caused him to believe himself the reincarnation of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh king Tutankhamun."
Kid Flash could help himself and laughed.
Batman stared and the laugh went quiet.
"Sorry, it's just, seriously?, are we now chasing mental patients with brain damage?, what is next?, going to run around stopping people littering in the park?"
Robin was angry; he raised his voice with indignation.
"Didn't we just prove that we are ready for more important missions?, let the local authorities deal with him."
Captain Marvel tried to intervene, raising his hands and stepping in front of the team.
"Guys, calm down and listen, I promise this is more important than you think."
Batman didn't intervene and let the captain handle it. If he wanted, he could stop the teens from making a fuss, but that could backfire later, so it was better to let the captain use a softer approach.
He just moved on to the next screen showing the same golden scepter encased in a glass box.
"This is the scepter of Ra, a relic of the royal family. According to legend, it can channel the power of the sun to destroy the enemies of the throne."
Artemis looked at the image and smiled.
"If you are explaining this, I'm guessing it isn't just a legend."
The image changed to a room with 3 black marks on the walls in the form of human silhouettes.
"This is what is left of the 3 undergrad students who were assisting the professor while he worked in the university."
Superboy grunted and then frowned at the photo, while Batman continued talking.
"The delusion of the professor is so profound that even the scepter have recognized him as a royal and now he is a danger to himself and others, so we assigned the team the mission to find him and bring him back to get treatment before he causes more harm."
Martian Manhunter spoke next, looking at his niece.
"This is where you come in, Megan. While the rest of the team distracts the profesor you will enter his mind and attempt to bring back his memories and restore it."
Megan nodded.
"You can count on me."
Batman finished the explanation.
"King Tuc, as the professor decided to name himself, has hired a group of mercenaries and grave robbers and he already stole several treasures and artifacts he claimed by birthright, according to himself. His last known location was in a small town north of Cairo."
Martian Manhunter took over next.
"You will go to this town and investigate the whereabouts of the professor and stop him from harming any more people."
Aqualad spoke as the team leader.
"We will resolve this carefully. Thank you for your trust."
Batman remarked next.
"Mcelroy maybe mentally unwell, but his ability to use Egyptian magical artifacts makes him dangerous and we cannot allow him to go unchecked."
Here he paused and again glared at the teenagers.
"We don't give missions as jokes or to look down on you. If you think any mission is beneath you, then you are not taking this with the seriousness owed to the situation."
He moved the presentation back to the image of the dead students.
"Everything we do is life or death for someone."
With that, he turned around and left, leaving a heavy silence in the room.
Seeing the depression on their faces captain Marvel smiled bitterly.
"It's ok to want more responsibility and bigger missions, just don't forget about the little guy chasing a big fish."
He then clapped and flew towards the exit.
"Well, you'd better prepare so you can get to Egypt as soon as possible to help the professor get back to normal."
Determination showed on the faces of the group as they decided to finish the mission flawlessly and prove they are taking it seriously.
A few hours later, they landed in a small town in Egypt and started looking for clues.
Wearing disguises to avoid drawing attention to themselves, they explored around in pairs, kid flash and Robin, Megan and superboy and finally Aqualad and Artemis.
Robin went directly to the police station and gave Kid Flash a small device. With his super speed, he planted it inside, allowing Robin to hack into the system and look for information.
A while later, Robin used the psychic link created by Miss Martian to tell the team his findings.
"Here, this report was buried within the database. A local man reported having found some ruins in the desert, then he was reported missing a day later."
Wally West A.K.A kid flash smiled and said.
"Some ruins in the middle of nowhere sound like something a nut job with delusions of grandeur would go looking for."
Superboy's voice spoke next.
"I heard rumors about an expedition that left 3 days ago, everyone in town seems to be talking about how they didn't come back."
Robin kept checking the information available.
"There is barely any information about these guys; they arrived weeks ago and have been going in and out of town constantly."
He typed for a moment and then he found something.
"The police chief got a relatively large amount of money 3 days ago. The transfer has the name KT and tracking the source, the account is connected to Gotham University."
Aqualad thought for a moment and then talked.
"So they found out the information about the ruins and paid the chief to bury the report; it must be just a tactic to gain some time, sooner or later, others would find out."
Wally, now eating a burrito he got from somewhere, spoke.
"I wonder what happened to the guy who reported it in the first place?"
Artemis' voice came through as he finished talking.
"I think I know the answer, come to my position."
The team gathered on a secluded alley in the outskirts of the city, where Artemis was kneeling in front of a brick wall, there were trash bags around and the smell was quite bad.
"Well, where is he?"
Superboy asked as soon as he arrived.
Artemis pointed at the wall.
"You are looking at him."
On the wall, you could see a black silhouette of a human; it was faint enough not to be noticeable unless you were looking for it.
The team was silent for a moment and then Robin took a spray bottle from his belt and used it around.
The spray made some parts of the floor and wall glow as Robin turned to the others.
"Blood, he was tortured before he was killed, they must have beaten the information out of him and then killed him so he couldn't tell anyone else."
Artemis took a paper and gave it to Robin.
"Well, they failed. I found this in the trash."
Robin took the paper and saw a group of numbers he quickly recognized as coordinates. He input it on his computer and got the location.
Aqualad looked at the team.
"Get ready and remember the plan. Our priority is to disarm the professor and give Miss Martian the chance to restore his mind."
Wally spoke.
"While getting shot at by a bunch of mercenaries and a death laser, piece of cake."
Aqualad thanked Robin and they modified the plan on their way to the ruins.
When they arrived on the invisible bioship property of Megan, they saw a group of cars almost buried by sand.
They carefully approached and checked the surroundings; no ruins were in sight and there were also no signs of life around.
Robin and Aqualad talked while the others checked the area, looking for clues.
"These are the correct coordinates according to my computer and the cars are here, so it should be the right place."
"Yet the mercenaries and the professor are nowhere to be found; something happened to them, and I guess that it has to do with the ruins and whatever they found inside."
"Well, things just got more complicated."
"This environment is not exactly welcoming for an atlantean which relays in water magic, so I'm counting on you."
The sun was high in the sky and there was nowhere to hide or get shade, so the heat was very unpleasant.
"Guys over here"
Wally waved his hands at them.
They approached and found a destroyed wall where he was standing.
"The ruins are here; they are just covered with sand."
He ran, creating wind and removing the sand from the area while the others closed their eyes and waited.
When he finished, a destroyed building was revealed, it looked like the remains of an explosion inside a lab. It was obviously not an Egyptian historical site; there were machines and electrical cables surrounding a crater in the middle.
The team took a second to process the scene as they saw dead bodies lying around the area, some were missing their heads, others were twisted in unnatural ways and others had holes going through them.
Megan covered her mouth and gasped.
"What happened here?"
Robin ran towards the computer that seemed to be damaged but still functional; it was connected to its own power source, so he was able to use it.
Meanwhile, the rest looked around on high alert.
Aqualad spoke calmly.
"This isn't the work of King Tuc, some of these guys were killed by a blunt, brutal attack. He is incapable of causing damage like this."
Artemis had her bow drawn as she scanned the surroundings.
"Then it was someone with super strength or a kinetic power."
Superboy saw something and he lifted a piece of concrete, revealing a corpse under it.
"I found him."
Professor William Mcelroy died, his body was missing his lower half, leaving only his torso and a broken scepter in his hand.
Artemis frowned.
"That is not what I expected."
Aqualad was thinking whether he should contact the league, as the danger of the mission had increased a lot.
Then they heard a voice coming from the computer.
"My name is Bulma Brief."
[Image].