Hunting the Sphinx (Success!)

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Luxor, Egypt. In the lobby of a hotel sat a young man. At his side was a small pack. In his hands was a book. He appeared to be waiting for someone. With the casual way he was relaxing, most would assume he was staying there. In reality, the young man would retire to a small apartment across the world when he was feeling tired enough to sleep. Such was within his abilities, though one wouldn't guess it from his ordinary appearance.

    Jack sat patiently, reading his book. It was the start of a new Dragonlance trilogy, since he'd finished the last one. He was pretty excited since this one was supposed to have a lot more Raistlin in it versus the last one where he'd only gotten to read about the interesting character for only a chapter or so at the end of the novel. So far, things were looking pretty good. The wizard was getting a lot of face time and the plot of the novel seemed to revolve around one of his diabolical, ingenious schemes.

    The young man was almost sad that he wouldn't be able to continue reading for much longer. After all, he was there to meet two people. His old pal Nyght and a reaper he'd met recently, one who went by the name Death.

    The young man had invited the two of them to assist him in ridding the region of a sphinx who'd apparently gone mad. The creature was killing people, though most only knew that tourists had been going missing lately, and Jack was in the city to stop it before things got any farther out of control than they already were. As usual, the young man had arrived plenty early, reading his book to pass the time. But now the time for their meeting was growing near. They should be arriving soon.

[Nyghtingale]

     Nyght hated coming back to Egypt. After everything that had happened last time, Egypt was definitely NOT on the top of her "visit again" soon list. She it was not the weather, though it was indeed exceptionally hot especially compared to the climate from Alaska. It was simply the memories, memories of the pain and the anger that had started here and been eating away at her insides. Memories that kept her driving, pushing to become better then what she was so that nothing like that could ever happen again. It was only when she was around her friend, Aela and Jack, that she felt she could relax and try enjoy life. So when Jack had invited her back to Egypt to help him out with something really important, despite her troubled past with in the country, she of course responded and went as quickly as possible.

     Nyghtingale had come in to the hotel room after Jack, because the guy was like ALWAYS super early. She had tried to be early as well, but things happened and she was simply held up. Although she hated making Jack wait, she knew he would be alright with it. Seeing him sitting there alone, reading that silly book series he always had his nose in made her lips spread in to a wide smile and she had to cover her mouth to stop a giggle. She moved up from behind him, trying to stay as quite as possible and finally came up behind him. She looked over his shoulder, looking at the book and licked her lips before speaking.

     "Are you STILL reading that series, Jack? You could totally be reading something much more interesting and educational you know. Something that would expand your mind and lead to new and exciting ideas and adventures!" She laughed loudly, wondering how he would react to this. 

[Death]

Flying. That was what Death had to do to get all the way to Egypt, he had to fly. The plane ride was enjoyable for him, nice and quiet. He met no evil minds, though, many troubled ones. There was a baby onboard, and it cried constantly. A gentlemen and lady next to the child became very annoyed by the baby's constant tears. Stress began to build up in them, and they were about to yell at the mother until Death interfered. He petted the child and told the mother what was its problem. It needed changing, so the mother had to go and change it's diapers. Later he discovered that the baby was a girl, and her name was Sarah. Death told the mother that Sarah was a nice name, and that he hoped that this child would grow to be as beautiful as her mother. 

When he landed in Egypt, Death placed on his black cloak and skull mask, relieved that he would not need to keep up his shapeshifting powers anymore. He was shifted into a tall and muscular man with brown hair and charming blue eyes. He didn't like his transformation, nor did he like transforming at all. He was proud to be a reaper, even if he could not show it, and found heavy peace in wearing a skull mask with red eyes over his skull face. Although, not many people enjoyed Death's look, and suspicious glares were given to him while he walked around the outside. For half a mile he had to walk, and he was avoided by every person he came across. 

When Death arrived at the Hotel, he instantly moved to the front desk to check if he had a package. Finding out that he did, Death asked for it, and was given two heavy boxes to carry. He opened those boxes, revealing two heavy sports bags filled with all types of weapons. Death stalked up for this event, excited to send a guilty mythical creature to damnation.

Placing the bags on his shoulder, Death looked around the room until he saw Jack, who seemed to be entertaining the company of a young woman. He strolled over to them quickly, not working to conceal himself from Jack's view. 

"Am I intruding on something?" Death would ask when he was near them. He wasn't the one for rude interruptions, but he needed Jack to know that he had arrived and was ready to leave. If the two actually did want to complete their conversation, Death would not mind, and he would move to sit close to a nearby bench where he would spend his time making plans for this hunt. 

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    One moment he was peacfully reading his book... The next, heart attack! Jack nearly fell out of his chair when Nyght snuck up on him. "D-don't do that!" The young man told her, his dusky face flushed with embarrassment. "Dragonlance is awesome, by the way. It's very educational and expands my mind plenty. What gibberish have you been stuffing into your head lately?"

    Shortly after that, a man approached. "Death!" Jack said, excited. "You made it, man! Nah, you're not interrupting anything. This is the other member of our group! How was your flight, by the way?" The young man stuffed his novel into the pack next to the table. He wouldn't be needing it anymore now that everyone had arrived.

    "Nyght this is Death, Death this is Nyght," The young man said, indicating each in turn during the introduction. "I'm glad you guys could make it. I appreciate the help with this hunt. Sphinx are trickle little beasts -- and they're not so little! I wouldn't want to go up against one alone."

    Jack waved eagerly at the table he'd been reading. "Come on, now. Sit! We can catch up and I'll tell you both everything I know about what we're up against!"

[Nyghtingale]

     Nyght began laughing at Jack's reaction, giggling and shaking her head. "I know it is awesome, I am just teasing you silly. I've been studying up on more magic and stuff." She shrugged her shoulders and watched as the new person approached and raised her eyebrows with interest. She watched the interaction between the two and surmised that the two probably knew each other and that this was somebody who was suppose to join them upon their question. Jack also informed her through his words what they where doing. A sphinx, huh? Exactly what it was she and Ghost had created last time she was here in.

     She looked at Death, extending her hand to the man and nodding. If he took her hand, she would shake it. If he did not, she would simply drop her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Death. You certainly put on the right person of the name you carry." She grinned, then sat down on one side of Jack, leaning back upon the comfortable couch and putting her arms up and lacing her fingers together her head. She grinned, watching the two man. "Oh...I have a pretty damn good idea what we are up again, Jack. Seeing as I helped create the fucking thing about six months ago."

[Death]

"Death!" Jack greeted excitedly. He stood up to place a book in his bag, one that Death wasn't really familiar with. "You made it, man!" Jack continued. "Nah, you're not interrupting anything. This is the other member of our group! How was your flight, by the way?"

"It was peaceful," Death said as he rested his bags near his feet.

Jack introduced the female as Nyght, then spoke about the sphinx. Nyght moved up to Death to greet him. She extended her hand to Death, and Death extended his. Bony fingers moved to hers, cold ones that felt rough against anyone's skin. "A pleasure to meet you, Death," she said politely. "You certainly put on the right person of the name you carry."

"A pleasure to meet you too," Death returned her kindness. "And yes, I seem to love everything this character stands for." 

Jack prompted everyone to sit, and Death sat in the bench that was opposite to Jack's. Nyght sat next to Jack, and the conversation on the hunt for the sphinx began. Nyght mentioned how she had a hand in this creature's creation, and Death turned his head sideways to her. "What do you mean by that?" He asked her.

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    "That's good, man. Glad you made it without incident." Jack smiled relaxing back into his seat. He took a sip of water, watching the other two exchange some rather brief pleasantries. It was after that when Nyght said something that interested the young man quite a bit.

    "Oh...I have a pretty damn good idea what we are up again, Jack. Seeing as I helped create the fucking thing about six months ago." What the hell was that supposed to mean? No.. She couldn't possibly have.. Shit.

    She'd created a sphinx? And not just any sphinx, but the sphinx that currently happened to be running wild around town, killing people? Jack's brow furrowed as he took this new information in. "You.. Created this thing?" The young man let a hint of confusion enter his voice. "Why would you want to do something like that?"

    "Please.. Tell me everything you know about this creature." Jack asked, his full attention on Nyght.

[Nyghtingale]

     Nyght frowned, not really wanting to get in to the entire story of what had happened during her time in Egypt. It was not the best time of her life, and she really did not want all those memories coming back again but she supposed it was just to late for that sort of nonsense. She would eventually have to come to terms with what had happened to her and what she had done. Especially seeing as here she was, back in Egypt dealing with a mess she had literally helped create.

     "Well, let me see where to begin. Just before coming to America and meeting you for the first time Jack I was in Egypt. I was homeless which you knew, and it was just after my mother slammed the door in my face refusing to help me. So I sneak on board of s ship that took me to Egypt, but of course I did not know where I was going. Once I got here, I began looking around for some place to stay and accidentally ran in to guy you actually know now as Marcus. Anyways, I...uh...um..."

Nyght hesitated, not really wanting to get in to exactly all the details of what had happened. She was embarassed, hurt both physically and mentally during those events by Marcus himself, and she was not ready to tell just anybody about it. If it had been just Jack there, she would probably have spilled the entire story to him from her heart. Might have even cried as well a little in front of him. Instead she set her jaw, and skipped past this part.

      "Anyways, Marcus wanted to create the Sphinx. I was just hoping there was something in there that I could learn and use later in my life. It was an extremely old scroll, and seeing as I am on the quest for extremely old knowledge I thought that maybe I would learn something helping him. So, we fought against some Anubis like asshole who keep bringing zombies against use and eventually we beat him and created the sphinx. Needs less to say, the sphinx was not all to nice and well mannered and now he has grown up in to what would appeared to be a not so nice pussy cat that we need to smack around a bit and teach some manners to."

She grinned at that, nodding her head thinking it was a pretty good story, and it was mostly true. She had not lied in any of it that was sure, but she had definitely left out some of the choicer morsels of the story for her own well being. She would tell Jack some day and tell him soon, but she would not tell that story in front of anybody else. Except maybe Aela or Melony, but definitely not this creepy dude christened Death who was obviously a hunter of some kind.

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Marcus. Outwardly, Jack's attention was focused entirely on Nyght but inwardly he frowned at the mention of the man. He only knew Marcus as a coward, someone Nyght hadn't seemed very fond of. From her reaction to the man, he'd assumed they'd had some sort of history together but he hadn't asked his friend about it, not wishing to pry. After what he'd seen of Marcus during their hunt, the young man would not be surprised to learn he'd pulled a similar stunt when Nyght had met him previously.

    Nyght seemed to be having some trouble relating the story, at first, and Jack's brow narrowed slightly with concern when she hesitated. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen her like this before. Creating a sphinx, Jack fumed inwardly. Does that idiot's foolish self indulgence know no bounds? The young man had come to a decision some time ago. This new information only made him all the more confident it was the right one.

    "Sounds like the two of you had quite the adventure," Jack said, choosing his words carefully. It was readily apparent to the young man that while she probably hadn't lied to him, she had most likely omitted some information. After all, none of what she'd told him seemed to account for her hesitation earlier. But Jack wouldn't press her. He knew better than most that everyone had their secrets and if she was going to tell him, it would be when she was ready. "Is there anything else you can tell me about it? Its abilities, perhaps?"

[Nyghtingale]

Nyght shrugged her shoulders, sighing. She knew some of the creature's powers, but not all of them. It had only hung around briefly for a minute after it's creation before leaving. She could only relay so much information about that, as well as the fact who knew what the creature had been up to since then and been doing. It was quite possible it had gained new powers since then.

"Well, it obviously could fly with the wings upon it's back and it hypnotized somebody and teleported away. It also seemed to be able to create some sort of acid, kind of like I do and summoned chains from the ground that looked like rock. Really that's about all I know. It didn't exactly stick around very long after we created it, and took off like a bat out of hell and suddenly teleported away somewhere when it was in the air."

She shrugged her shoulders, unable to give anymore information about the creature then that. She Thought it seemed like fairly decent information at least, but not exceedingly helpful at the moment when they where preparing to get rid of the monster that they had helped create in their ignorance.

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    The young man thought for a moment about what Nyght had just told him. It was something but Jack wished she could tell him more. He knew as well as anyone that supernaturals could develop new powers given time, especially one as powerful with as legendary a bloodline as a sphinx. Stories about the creatures traced back further than he cared to read and in every one, every single tale, sphinx were nothing to be trifled with.

    "Well, that's something at least. More than I knew before," Jack told her with a sigh. "I only wish we knew more. I don't like going into a dangerous battle with a legendary creature knowing that I'm not as prepared as I would like to be." The young man scratched his chin, thinking hard. With enough preparation, Jack knew there were few things on this earth that could keep living if the right person wanted it dead. But was he the right person? Was he prepared enough?

    Knowing this wasn't the time for doubt, Jack turned his mind back toward the matter at hand. "Do you have any idea where it might be hiding? I've been attempting to put it together using clues obtained from some of the victims, but you've actually met the creature. Does it seem like the sort to hide among its prey, in the city, or somewhere more remote?"

[Nyghtingale]

     Nyght tilted her head, watching Jack's face intently. He seemed to have an odd look upon his face, odd at least in the sense that she had never once seen that look come across his face. What was he thinking? Was he thinking about their last fight with the Stymphalian Bird, and something with that? Or was he thinking about something else entirely else? It was not first time that she wished that she could read minds sometimes, or at least listen to his thoughts. However, she knew that even if she COULD read his mind, she would never invade Jack's privacy like that. She simply cared to much for him to do something like that. She suddenly had the extremely strong impulse to reach out and pull his head against her chest, to cradle him there and stroke his hair and cheek.

     Nyght instantly pushed that feeling aside, knowing that Jack would never want such a thing and that this was simply not the time nor place for some sudden showing of feelings and/or intimacy. She was proven that point right by the next words that came from Jack's lips, and she watched those moving while listening to the words. When he finished speaking, she slowly pulled her eyes away from his lips and up to his eyes and contemplated, reaching up to cup her chin between her forefinger and thumb. She thought about it long and hard, and finally came to a slightly decisive answer. She simply hoped that it was the correct answer.

     "I am pretty sure that it would not hide among other people. Much like our late companion Marcus...this creature seems to have a superiority complex, and would never stoop to such a low level as to hide itself or to take upon the shape of a simple human being. It is powerful, but young and childish at the moment. I would think that it would remain close by, to acquire whatever it might need. Food, water, and..." She hesitated slightly squeamish all the sudden, "trophies of some sort or nature. So I would probably think it outside the city, otherwise we would have heard about it already, but with in a decent distance that it can still come in to attack. It is powerful and intelligent, but young and naive to the ways of the world currently. We should take advantage of that before it has time to learn to much, and wise up."

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    What Nyght was telling him made sense. After all, she did know the sphinx best, being one of the ones who'd created him and of the two of them, Jack and Nyght, she was the only one who'd actually met the man. But the young man had his doubts. "Is it possible, do you think, that so predatory an individual might relish living among his prey, taking pleasure in knowing himself to be the wolf among the sheep? Maybe he doesn't see it as hiding. Maybe he feels himself too superior to hide anywhere but plain sight."

    Marcus. Every mention of the mention of the man tweaked Jack's cool demeanor. He'd stood by and watched them face off against a legendary monster straight out of Greek mythology, watching them struggle, fighting for their lives with that terrible beast, after pledging his support. He'd done nothing. The young man saw it as a betrayal. What had happened between him and Nyght in Egypt? The question was irrelevant. It had nothing to do with the task at hand but Jack wanted to know. He wanted to know, but he couldn't bring himself to ask and the young man didn't know why. Why he even cared.

    Anyways. The young man didn't mean to argue with her. He simply wished to be sure. If this sphinx was as careless as it seemed and as Nyght was saying, it was only a matter of time before people started to catch on to what it was doing. Jack's people were doing everything they could to keep the murders under wraps but every careless murder put supernaturals closer to discovery. He only had so much time to devote to this particular issue. There were idiots around the globe who needed killing and one sphinx, while certainly high profile, was a drop in the bucket.

[Nyghtingale]

She contemplated what he head said for a minute, looking around as if the sphinx was about to suddenly jump out at them and attack them right then and there. When nothing seemed to jump out and attack them upon the spot, she looked back towards Jack and smiled.

"Well, I doubt that the sphinx would be able to stay put around this town. However it might be possible, so I have an idea. Why do we not set a trap up to lure the sphinx where we want him to come. That way we know where we will engage the sphinx, if maybe not exactly when. So, what do you think of that? That way we can be prepared and maybe set up some trap to possibly swing things in our favor."

She went silent, contemplating what she had just said and waiting for Jack to respond. She leaned back against the couch, looking up at the ceiling and sighed deeply. She had something on her mind besides something the sphinx, but she was not about to come right out and say it.

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    "A trap?" The young man was intrigued. Typically, Jack would track and, finally, chase down his prey. He brought them kicking and screaming to the ground where he devour them. Barbaric, unsophisticated. But it worked for him. The young man wasn't a spider, laying webs to trap his meals. He hadn't the patience for it, though he likely didn't lack the intelligence. "What do you have in mind?"

    Jack sat back, pensive. He attempted to think up strategies for drawing the sphinx into a trap. It was young and reckless, like Nyght said. Cunning and intelligent, sure. But it simply didn't have the experience to see through a well made net, especially if it thought itself as superior as he'd been told. The more he thought about it, the more convinced Jack was that a trap was the right way to go.

    Looking at Nyght as she sat there, confident and utterly assured of her knowledge and skill, the young man couldn't help but admire her. Jack might falter. It was only human. But as long as he had allies like her, Jack felt as though there was nothing he could not accomplish. The young man shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with what he was feeling at that moment. If he was being entirely honest with himself, Jack wasn't accustomed to feeling much. At least when it came to the more positive emotions. He was very familiar with rage and hatred.

    Jack wanted to look away but he couldn't. The young man was confused but he worried that doing so might give too much away. He only hoped that his mask was holding, that his eyes didn't give away the fact that his thoughts were on anything but the task at hand.