Reece had to admit, Chippo’s notion about Rogers’s heritage was somewhat ingenious. It wasn’t the idea itself, but the chain of thoughts that it kicked off in Reece’s mind. Commander Rogers had power, but much of it was due to the massive cabal of individuals who chose to work with or for him. Then again, if Rogers really had powers like himself, it stood to reason that Roger’s followers may not have chosen to work for him but were mind-fucked into it. It was a distasteful thought, but Reece wouldn’t put anything past Roger’s narcissistic behavior and megalomania.

Thinking it all through, Reece came up with a plan. After getting Chippo’s input, he got to work on the preparations that would be necessary to give his new plan the best chance at success. Reece couldn’t help but smile as he used his ability repeatedly, fine-tuning it with each attempt. Six hours later, the preparations for the improved plan had been executed and Reece knew much more than he did previously.

Now it was just a matter of returning to the surface. Unfortunately, after their discussion, Bastet left without saying a word about how Reece was supposed to accomplish that. With the preparations complete, he began exploring the tomb, hoping to find some clues. Still, he attacked the current problem with a newfound optimism he hadn’t even realized he had been missing. He finally had tangible hope.

Looking around the rest of the chamber, he checked each of the fifteen alcoves with their differing statues. There didn’t appear to be any clues, messages, hidden levers, or buttons. The floor was flat and made of the same rock as the rest of the chamber. Other than the pool of water he had already experienced, the only other thing of note was the sarcophagus.

Walking over to the sarcophagus and looking inside, Reece laughed out loud. Surrounded by numerous hieroglyphs and faded pictographs, a large arrow pointed toward the foot of the ancient coffin. Reece immediately began fumbling with the decorated metalwork that completely covered Bastet’s stone resting place. After a few minutes with no luck, he stood back up and stared at the arrow. It reminded him of the arrows that were placed on old-school battery covers, from back in the day before batteries became perpetually rechargeable power sources.

“Nah, it couldn’t be that simple,” muttered Reece to himself.

Shrugging to himself, he walked around to the head of the sarcophagus and threw his weight against it, trying to push it in the direction that the arrow indicated. He was starting to feel extremely foolish when the heavy stone coffin finally shifted and grudgingly slid across the floor.

Reece couldn’t help but chuckle, “Well, I guess it is that simple. Okay, I’m game.”

The sounds of grinding stones echoed throughout the chamber as Reece put his back into it and kept pushing. Soon, a large stone set into the floor but not a part of it was partially revealed. Reece pressed down on it and could feel some give, but not much. Back to pushing, Reece decided to completely uncover the strange stone. Another twenty seconds and Reece had completely pushed the sarcophagus off it.

The moment the edge of the coffin slid off the stone, it rose like a depressed button that had just been released. Reece jumped back, not knowing what else to expect from the stone that had just risen out of the floor, probably exactly like the proverbial button of which it reminded him. That’s when he noticed what sounded like a heavy ball rolling underneath the stone floor.

By the time the sound reached the edge of the floor, a sharp tink rang out followed by more grinding stones. Whatever was happening, Reece had just kicked it off by releasing the stone button. He was glad that he had already prepared his plan. He might not have had time if he had waited until after he discovered a means of escaping the sealed chamber. The myriad sounds of metal and grinding stone rose in intensity until the whole room was vibrating from the immense friction taking place somewhere underneath him and behind the walls. Some massive and ancient mechanism had just been brought back to life. A moment later, a loud rumble followed by a crash resounded from across the room.

Reece looked to see what had made the commotion, but age-old dust had been kicked up and was obscuring his vision. Reece immediately pulled a cloth from his pocket and covered his face. A minute later, the dust began to settle. Reece saw that a large area of the wall had collapsed onto the floor, large bricks scattered everywhere. Past where there was once a wall, stood a cylindrical housing carved entirely from stone. It had to be three meters across, with a half-meter-wide recess opening right into the middle of the wall’s breach.

Reece had to shake his head and chuckle at the two arrows pointing toward the recess, carved into the outside of the housing. Whoever had set up the sphinx and chamber was trying to take all the guesswork out of the escape plan. Reece appreciated that.

Reaching deep into his other pocket, Reece pulled out the nightcore. He held it in both hands while walking towards the housing. Looking up, he could just make out that the housing tapered to a fine point at the top, but deep grooves were cut at an angle around the surface, reminding Reece of a giant screw. Stepping into the housing, he could feel just how incredibly thick the thing was. There was only room for Reece to stand comfortably.

Centering himself within the thick stone housing he immediately felt the floor below him drop about ten centimeters. More grinding sounds from all around him had his eyes go wide and he started to try and leap out of the thing. Before he could move more than a muscle, a new rumbling made his teeth chatter as it drowned out the prior grinding noises. Reece watched helplessly as he left the sarcophagus room behind, the housing burrowing its way to the surface.

It took about five minutes, much longer than his descent, but somehow the corkscrew elevator finally arrived at the surface. The stone door slid back open, and Reece had to wait a moment for the spray of sand to clear from his emergence onto the surface. The corkscrew cylinder had come up behind the group of vampires patrolling the area.

The vampires were all looking every which way, trying to determine where the deafening grinding sound was coming from. It only took a second before the first one noticed Reece as he stepped out of the stone conveyance. The well-dressed vampire hissed at him, alerting the others to Reece’s location. Reece held the nightcore in both hands as he stepped out of the corkscrew elevator, sliding down the sand that had been displaced when the conveyance broke the surface.

Examining the area, Reece saw that he had come up less than fifty meters from the Sphinx. He also noticed that a couple of canopies had been erected near the ancient sculpture. Beneath them sat several casks, a few crates, plus some chairs and tables. His friends sat or stood under the canopies as well, though they were obviously still prisoners.

Reece allowed the vampire to surround him and lead him toward the canopies. That’s when he saw the commander stand up to receive the returning vampires. Once they were within a few meters of their ‘master’, they parted in front of Reece. He noticed Sora standing to the side and behind Rogers and more vampires stood around the pair. It only took the commander a moment to notice the item in Reece’s hands.

Roger’s furrowed forehead and pinched eyes made Reece smile. He found the confused look on his former commander’s face priceless as Rogers gawped between Reece and Sora, each of them holding what appeared to be the nightcore. The vampires all stood ready, awaiting the orders of Rogers, or rather… Mr. Abel Hargrove. Reece wasn’t sure how the commander would react, but in a minute, it wouldn’t matter anyway.

“What trick is this?” demanded the clone of Hargrove.

“Oh, you like that?” asked Reece, smiling sadistically at the man he once took orders from. “Then you’re going to love this. Order sixty-nine!”

The moment Reece said those last couple of words, half of Hargrove’s ‘controlled’ vampires turned on the other half. Swords, daggers, axes, and pistols came out simultaneously and were immediately put to deadly effect. The unsuspecting vampires were stabbed, beheaded, and shot in a matter of moments. Caught completely off-guard, the vampires who were still loyal to Hargrove went down quickly. Watching his impending victory slip away almost instantly, Hargrove tried to process what was happening. Turning back towards Sora in search of answers, the clone began fumbling in his jacket for something.

Hargrove barely had time to register the fact that Sora had dropped her nightcore into the sand and had a gun pointed at his head before she pulled the trigger and blew his cloned brains out the back of his skull. He was dead before he hit the ground, a small black device slipping from his hand as he fell. Commander Rogers had died for a second time. Reece hoped it wouldn’t be the last, and he wanted to be present when the real Commander Rogers, or Abel Hargrove, dropped dead of severe lead poisoning.

Reece stepped over the pooling blood while it saturated the sandy ground and picked up the odd device. Made from an unknown carbon alloy, it was black and rectangular with a small switch and a grey button beneath it. It seemed familiar and then Reece remembered the shock collars. By this time, Reece’s captured companions were looking at him in bewilderment. Their confusion was evident in their narrowed eyes and tilted heads, clearly trying and failing to process the sudden change in their fortunes.

The remaining vampires, all of whom were under Reece’s control, split into two groups. One made short work of the remaining ghouls while the other undid the chains, ropes, and other bindings that held the prisoners. Sora walked over to stand near Reece. His companions approached him tentatively, keeping an eye on the remaining vampires. Naeva marched right up to Sora, preparing to punch her in the face. Reece caught her intentions and stood between her and Sora.

“It’s over,” said Reece, shaking his head at the angry woman.

“She betrayed us,” complained Naeva. “She deserves to die for all the things she’s done.”

“No, she doesn’t,” countered Reece. “She was brainwashed by that hive-mind serum that the commander injected her with. If it hadn’t been for her, I would have suffered the same fate. She saved me all the way back on the Zhengzhou, even while she was already losing herself. Now, I’ve finally been able to return the favor.”

“Thank you, Reece,” said Sora. “This has been a nightmare. I’ve been trapped in my own mind for so long that I don’t even know how to think for myself now.”

“You’ll figure it out,” replied Reece, while Naeva’s face softened at Sora’s words. “And we’ll help you become you again.”