Chapter 5
The next morning, chase and Layla headed back to stark tower, a stachel around chase and sunglasses over their eyes.
"Oh I need sleep- I'm hearing voices that aren't khonshu or menhit, Layla"
"That's concerning chase"
"I know." Chase sipped their coffee and walked out the elevator once it stopped at their destination.
"Hey depressed artist and their friend are here" chase gave a two fingered wave to Bruce, then went back to drinking their coffee
"Chase and Layla? Pleasure to meet you" Bruce went over to the two friends and shook their hands, chase let a smile settle on their face
"Pleasures all mine. Thanks for helping us out - That's on behalf of moon knight and khonshu."
"Ah no don't worry about it. So, what did you need exactly?" Bruce began to led the friends to the lab, chase stared In awe and pulled their sun glasses out
"Dr strange had zombies in his little mirror dimension. I'm sure you got told that last night" chase started
"Yeah. Yeah that was…that was said." Bruce stated.
"Khonshu and menhit - along with taweret all said it's old magic. From what we don't know. We need to know who is sending this message to us, why and where Marc Spector is being kept." Layla continued, "because khonshu's connection to him got severed."
"...it depends if he's even still alive" chase quietly said, then shook their head and sat in a nearby office chair.
"If you need any help, I'll be around." A grateful nod left Layla and chase and got left to their own devices. Chase pulled a laptop out their satchel bag, plugged it into some of the projector wires and let Layla do her work.
"Layla, how is this suppose to help us find the avatar of Anubis again?"
"The avengers have access to the cctv in new York. My theory is, the new avatar found Anubis' ushbati around this area. We just need to access the cameras and find out where." Layla explained, her fingers dancing over the keys on the keyboard.
"I'd bet it was smugglers" chase stated, leaning next to the desk Layla was at, "there's always Egyptian artefacts getting smuggled around the world. Like vibranium. They're high in demand."
"Yeah…this may take a while, sorting through all the cctv right now" Layla murmured out.
A small nod left chase and decided to plug their phone into the labs speaker system and choose on of their many Spotify playlists
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It took half the day to sift through the many cctv cameras but they eventually got a hit.
"You know where you're going chase?" Layla asked, eyeing her friend in concern.
"Yep. Downtown new York" chase nodded, giving lalya a thumbs up and let the mask fall over their face, "I'll contact you if I get any information"
"Okay. Are you sure, you don't want me to come with you?"
"I'm fine, Layla."
"I know you are. It's khonshu I don't trust"
"BLASPHEMY!" Khonshu roared out and the two friends ignored a chair flying across the room.
"Be safe, okay?" Layla hugged chase and chase nodded.
"I'll try to be. Still learning how to move in this suit" chase chuckled out, pulled the window open and jumped out.
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Chase was crouched on a high building, arms resting on their legs and scanned the surroundings of downtown new york.
"Love?" Chase's head whipped up and looked behind them, stood up and looked about on the roof.
"Steven?" Chase shook their head, the ball of their hand hitting the side of their head, "no…no stop it. You can't let the voices take over"
"Depressed one, maybe the bug should be with you tonight" khonshu stood up from where he was crouching and chase brushed past him, a foot on the edge of the roofs building.
"Are we sorting this out or not, bird brain?" Khonshu went silent, "good"
Rolling their shoulders, chase jumped off the edge of the building, the cape turning into a crescent shape and chase gently glided down to the ground, weaving between buildings until they eventually landed behind a bar.
They were near the port. So, that means a shipment was coming in.
"Hey kid, don't let them live" chase narrowed their eyes, shaking their head again.
"No not today voices. Another time." Chase murmured out, pulled some crescent daggers from their chest and walked out in full view.
A smuggler yelled in alarm but got halfway through their yelling before they gurgled on their own blood. Chase pulled their cape up over their front, shielding themselves from the oncoming gun fire and when close enough to a smuggler, punched them repeatedly in their face.
"Oh no you don't. Get back here" chase grabbed one, jumped onto a nearby shipping container and held them over the edge, "talk" chase shook them slightly, their grip tight on the shirt of the smuggler, "did you smuggle any Egyptian artefacts into new York?"
"O-only one! Oh god please don't kill me-" chase narrowed their eyes.
"What was it."
"A-a statue- o-of a dog-"
"The head of a jackal, the body of a human?" The smuggler nodded frantically, a small whimper leaving them
"Y-yes! Oh god please don't kill me-"
"Who did you sell it to?"
"I-i don't know-!! A girl- young lady I'm not sure"
"Throw him off depressed one" khonshu was interested now. A glint of curiosity in his dead eyes.
Chase cast a glance to khonshu, snarled and threw the smuggler onto the shipping container. "Run. If I see you again, you won't live to see another night."
"You disappoint me, chase." Khonshu sighed out.
"Okay get this into you bird brain skull, I'm not killing for your pleasure. Khonshu. I'm not marc. Or Jake. The only reason I'm your avatar for the moment is because we need the power of your suit. I'm not getting manipulated into killing people because you get off on it! There are other ways to serve justice and killing isn't needed unless it's for a last resort!" Chase growled out, looked over their shoulder to khonshu and jumped off the shipping container.
"Khonshu, chase is getting unwell." Menhit growled out in worry.
"I agree. We will pause the search for now. The young one needs to rest before we continue" khonshu said, looking to the place chase was at before leaving, "if we let them continue, their mind will become a wasteland" Menhit looked to khonshu in surprise, this was the first time the moon god was worried about one of his avatars. But, he was right. Chase needed rest
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Chase groaned, rolled onto their side and glanced at the clock. Too early in their opinion. But, they got a text from Nyx saying they were in a hotel nearby so, today they were spending the day with Nyx.
Another groan left chase, stretched and sat up, rubbing their eyes with the ball of their hands and got up, rubbing the back of their head and glanced in the mirror that was nearby.
"...huh…" chase then shrugged and walked into the kitchen area to see Layla already up.
"Are you getting dressed today?" Layla commented, motioning to chase and their lack of clothing
"What, I got hot is all. I'm still wearing underwear" chase then stuck their tongue out, a giggle shortly leaving them and grabbed a mug of coffee that was pre made by Layla.
"So, found anything last night?" Layla asked between coffee sips.
"Oh yeah. They smuggled one Egyptian artefact in. The ushbati of Anubis. Sold it to a young woman." Chase said, leaning against the kitchen counter and took a long sip of their coffee.
"Okay. That scales the search down a tiny bit" Layla stated, paused then looked to chase, "Menhit…spoke to me last night, through a stray cat on the windowsill after you went to sleep."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah. Um- how's your mental health? Menhit said you were hearing voices last night." Chase looked at their mug.
"...thought I heard Steven. And Marc. Its- I was doing so well. I was- and-" chase placed their mug on the counter and got pulled into a hug by Layla
"Shh..shh it's okay. It's a normal reaction, to hear voices. Normal human reaction. It just means you're stressed."
"I- I know I know but.. they're getting so loud."
"Okay, here's what we'll do. Both of us are going out to do this. Not just you. Not anymore. Your health comes first, okay?" A small nod left chase. Small sniffles leaving them, "good. Let's have a rest for today, and we can continue on tomorrow, how's that sound?"
"Sounds like a good idea."
"Young one. I am truly sorry for putting too much on your shoulders. I should, perhaps, learn to ease my new avatars into their new duties" khonshu knelt down In Front of chase and they blinked.
"... there's other ways of serving your justice, khonshu. Duties go both ways, and..so does respect. Hey, I have an idea" chase started, leaning against the counter again.
"What is it?" Layla asked, curious as to what chase's idea was.
"Why don't Khonshu and Menhit go search for this mystery girl, and come back when they have something. Gives us time to unwind" chase shrugged out.
"A perfect idea, little cub" menhit purred out.
"If that is what my young avatar desires." Khonshu added.
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"Hi chase! Where are you?"
"Two minutes away- sorry got held up" chase ran across the road, holding their hand up in thanks and switched their phone to their left hand.
"No no it's fine. Honestly I was just excited to meet with you again. Oh! Oh I can see you now!" Chase saw the figure of Nyx waving and chase waved back and hang up, jogging over to them and hugged nyx, giving her a small kiss on her cheek, them sat down.
"Hope you're not tired Nyx"
"Oh definitely not! I'm excited for our second date, very excited." Chase smiled
"Brilliant. Ah- I am too- oh-" Nyx let a soft laugh out and gently held chase's hand
"You fluster too easily, love" chase's heart pumped faster. Oh. Oh they liked nyx. Like, really liked her.
"Hey, you let me talk about myself last time. I wanna hear about you and your childhood" chase prodded Nyx's hand gently.
"Okay then. What d'ya wanna know?"