Ahmed moved quickly towards Sekhmat, who was standing with the rest of the team, and said directly to him: "I want you to tell me all the details of the maze located under the Pyramids."

Sekhmat crossed his arms and objected coldly: "I don't see any point in entering it. We will not use the Devil's Gear located there anyway, so why take the risk?"

Ahmed: "Because if you know it well, we can use it as a trap. We can trap Omar there and catch him."

Sekhmat sharply: "A trap? For someone who has the power to manipulate our minds and make us see things that are not there? Did you forget that he controlled Youssef before? The whole thing could turn into a disaster and we might kill each other instead of him, or he could simply kill us without us even seeing him."

Ahmed, trying to think out loud: "As long as he doesn't touch us, he shouldn't be able to control us."

Youssef interrupting doubtfully: "And how can you be sure of something like that?"

Ahmed: "I am not completely sure, but it is just a conclusion. I noticed that you all need to touch the things you control in order to use your powers to work."

Maryam intervened saying: "Your words make sense, Ahmed, but the Devil's Gear doesn't necessarily work exactly like the King's Gear. Maybe its rules are different."

The tone of voice changed, as Nader spoke, dropping Sekhmat's strictness: "Even if we assume he can use this power from a distance, I noticed something important. Last time, he could barely control Youssef, and exhaustion was very clear on him even if he tried to hide it."

Nader continued his analysis: "Even if his gear is different, that does not mean he isn't drained and tired whenever he uses his power. Mostly because this power is new to him, or at least he hasn't mastered using it yet. And I don't think that in just one month he will be able to get used to it enough to fight us and use illusions on us at the same time."

At that moment, Sekhmat's voice echoed in Nader's subconscious: "Am I imagining things, or are you encouraging the plan that I just rejected?"

Nader ignored him, while Youssef said: "The problem is that he doesn't need to fight us himself. If he controls us, he might make us fight each other, and he will save his effort."

Ahmed with enthusiasm: "That's why we must pin him down quickly! If we do that, it won't matter if he uses his power and makes us think he moved, or even makes us think he is one of us, because we will be sure of his real location in advance."

Sekhmat returned to take over Nader's body, warning them: "You don't realize the danger of what you are talking about. If he reaches the Devil's Gear before us, unimaginable disasters will happen."

Ahmed asked curiously: "By the way, how many gears can a human use anyway?"

Maryam: "We have no idea... Ali and I tried to swap our gears before but it didn't work, but the Master could use all three of our gears."

Ahmed with a hopeless smile: "And even if we assume he managed to use more than one gear, he will surely be weak and distracted, right? Look at me, I have one gear and I am in a terrible state."

Sekhmat impatiently: "The problem is not in his ability to use it skillfully... The problem is the nature of the gear itself. The gear underground is the original one from which my teleportation power was derived. It is responsible for moving things from one place to another, and the disaster is that it is designed to work automatically if touched by any unauthorized person."

Then he exhaled and continued: "The system that Askem activated to move the Pyramids and trigger the curse was designed so that if the mission failed and the activator died—which is Askem in this case—it would wipe the memories of the people in the surrounding area, and pull the activator's gear down into a massive 3D maze. Something like an anthill, but its rooms move constantly, it has no fixed shape, and it's full of traps. This is to ensure that no one gets this gear except specific people. And in the case of that Devil's Gear, there is an extra trap."

Ahmed: "And what is the danger in that?"

Sekhmat: "The difference between the tool I use and the original gear is like the difference between paper scissors and a chainsaw. If the trap in this gear is activated, it will teleport the entire Pyramids ruin area to outer space!"

Ahmed: "And if that happens... can't you bring us back here again with your power?"

Nader spoke again to explain: "Of course not. The distance will be huge, and there are many of you. Besides, such a distance requires having more than one seed in the space between us and Earth, because I won't be able to use my power to teleport us directly to a seed on Earth from space."

Nader was silent for a second, then added: "But... I have a better idea. If I manage to use my power on you at the right moment, you won't teleport to space in the first place."

Ali gave him a sarcastic look and said: "Very well! Then why all these details and drama as long as you have the solution?"

Maryam ignored Ali's sarcasm and said worriedly: "What about the people? If we take any of the steps mentioned now, we will hurt them. The place there has become a tourist area more than in the past, especially after the government left the remains of the spaceship wreckage without dismantling it."

Ahmed thinking: "We can carry out the operation late at night. Or we can even make up something to scare them and keep them away from the place temporarily until we finish our work. 

Everything can be solved if we think together and combine our information and experiences. If we succeed, we will defeat Omar, and win the Devil's Gear."

Sekhmat intervened, warning: "Before we continue this discussion, I want you to understand and appreciate the size of the disaster you are living in, and that any extra mistake will speed up your end."

Sekhmat stepped closer to Ahmed and continued: "As soon as I brought back your father's body, the whole world started wondering about you and him. First, you are among the very few people—if not the only ones—who were close to the spaceship and didn't die. Second, you traveled shortly after Atlantis appeared to a country close to it. What's worse, the hotel you booked was destroyed in mysterious circumstances, and filled with solid black spikes made of an unknown material!"

Sekhmat took a breath and continued: "The whole world is talking about you now. Intelligence agencies used the situation to look for you, and put you on terrorist lists. In short, the whole world is looking for you right now, because they are scared, and they don't have any clue to hold onto except you, because Atlantis isn't answering and they are too cowardly to approach it."

Ahmed looked at him coldly and steadily and said: "Are you done talking? This plan will either succeed, or I will die in it, and in both cases, I no longer care about anything you say."

Then Ahmed turned to his friends and said: "Who is with me to try to fix this plan and execute it?"

Maryam and Ali looked at each other for a moment, then Ali smiled with his usual sarcasm and said: "Are you asking us if we will execute this problematic plan of yours and risk everything to catch Omar?"

Maryam: "Of course we will come, we lost our sense of logic years ago, and following you is one of the Master's orders anyway."

Nader concluded the conversation with his calm voice saying: "I will try to convince Sekhmat about this... but we must make the plan very tight first."

The last week of training passed after that night in the desert... A month of hard training, planning, and re-planning to ensure the trap was tight. Mistakes were not allowed, because their opponent this time wasn't just a strong fighter, but a person with unknown powers, and the known ones were very dangerous.

Shortly before zero hour, Ahmed asked Sekhmat for one last request... a quick visit to a place no one visits at such a time.

Ahmed stood in front of his recently moved father's grave. The rain was pouring down unnaturally heavy, reflecting the storm raging inside him. He wasn't alone; his uncle "Hassan" was standing there too, throwing words at him like arrows, blaming him for everything that happened, as if Ahmed was the one who brought down the spaceship with his own hands.

His uncle's words were the fuel that ignited Ahmed's suppressed anger until the rain intensified and turned into a sweeping torrent, as if the sky was crying in anger with him. Ahmed left him and returned to Sekhmat so they could go to the awaited battlefield.

When Ahmed and Sekhmat stepped out of the portal at the specified location near the Pyramids, they were completely soaked.

Ali gave them a scrutinizing look, and said in a low voice that no one else heard: "It's clear that things didn't go smoothly there."

Ahmed wiped the water from his face and said blankly: "Shut up... and start the plan."

Ali nodded to Maryam. Maryam struck the ground with her hand, and sand and rocks rose to form a massive figure, a statue of a giant man looking like a legendary monster that came out of the earth's core.

Ali quickly climbed up to stand on the statue's head, next to huge loudspeakers that had been prepared in advance.

Ali grabbed the microphone, and his voice began to boom in the area, amplified and changing his tone to be terrifying: "Leave immediately! The curse of the Pharaohs has fallen! The earth will turn upside down!"

While Ali was throwing his theatrical threats and letting out intermittent evil laughs, Maryam was moving the statue slowly, which made the ground shake under the feet of the tourists and passersby, who fled in a state of total panic.

Ahmed was watching the scene from afar, sure that this "noise" and their use of phones was the perfect bait. Omar, who was definitely monitoring their communications and knew about their staged talk about the "Devil's Gear," wouldn't miss a chance like this to interfere.

After the area was completely empty, Maryam split the ground again, creating a long stone staircase diving into the depths. They all went down through it until they reached an ancient stone door, looking like the door of a forgotten royal tomb.

Maryam felt the door and said in wonder: "How did no one discover this place before? Sonar and radar devices scanned the area hundreds of times."

Ahmed replied while examining the engravings: "Whoever designed the technology we are dealing with, it's very easy for them to hide a place like this from regular sonar."

Sekhmat pushed the door, and it opened with a muffled creak. As soon as they crossed the threshold, the door slammed shut behind them, and the floor began to move with them!

The walls started to slide to separate them from each other, and the floor spun like the gears of a giant clock.

Maryam shouted, her eyes glowing with a bright purple light: "You were right, Sekhmat... This place works in a way similar to my own gear... But..."

She hit the floor with both hands, so the walls stopped moving, and the floor froze in its place despite its mechanics.

Maryam continued confidently: "...But I am actually stronger than it."

Ahmed signaled to everyone to hide. They all blended into the surroundings of the room; Maryam inside a cavity in the wall, Sekhmat and Ali behind stone pillars, and Ahmed and Youssef watching from a crack in the ceiling.

Ten heavy minutes passed like hours, then the door opened.

Omar walked in with confident steps, scanning the place with a quick glance. But as soon as his foot stepped in the middle of the room... they all pounced on him at once!

It was a swift and calculated attack. Youssef jumped behind him and wrapped his arms around him, pinning him down, and at the same moment Sekhmat was in front of him, placing his hand directly on Omar's chest.

Sekhmat in an icy voice: "Any movement, even an extra breath, will be the last movement in your life. Stay still... that's better for you."

Omar opened his mouth to say something, but Youssef didn't give him time. The heat of his hand suddenly rose, and he peeled off a part of Omar's arm.

Youssef shouted in his ear: "Forgive him, Sekhmat... he won't do it again."

Silence fell for a second, then Sekhmat turned and said commandingly: "Maryam, Ali... go and bring the Devil's Gear right now."

Maryam hesitated and said sharply: "Shouldn't we get rid of Omar first?"

Ahmed replied quickly as he approached them: "Come on, Maryam! You will find it and come back in two minutes. Without you we would have searched in this maze for days. Bring it quickly while we interrogate this scumbag."

Maryam didn't wait for another reply, as Ali pulled her by her arm and they ran together into the dark corridor.

Ahmed turned his gaze back to Omar, who was in pain silently, and asked him: "You are from Atlantis then? And whose army is this that you work with?"

Omar let out a muffled laugh despite the pain: "Do you think I'll try to lie or deny? You are much too trivial for me to hide anything from you."

Sekhmat couldn't stand his arrogance, so he pressed his foot hard on Omar's leg... and the sound of crushing bones was clearly heard across the room.

Omar screamed a loud scream, but he continued: "The spaceship you are all trying to solve its mystery... I was its commander. I am the one who brought it here."

Ahmed took a step back in shock: "Impossible... And even if this is true, why did you want to go to Atlantis? And what brings someone like you together with my team?"

Omar smiled in pain and said: "I stayed here for a long time... My connection with the command was cut off, and I was feeling deadly bored. Your silly ads were showing up everywhere for me. I said to myself, instead of going alone, I'll go with you and entertain myself with you for a bit."

Omar looked at their faces one by one and added: "I thought at first it was a coincidence... But what kind of coincidence brings together six gear users who don't know each other? Someone is manipulating us all... And if I find him, I will show no mercy."

Youssef dug his burning fingers into Omar's shoulder again and said angrily: "You'd better find him in the five minutes left of your life. Why did the spaceship fall? Did you do it on purpose?"

Omar in a hoarse voice: "Why would I do that, you idiot? It was the interference of a silly person... he destroyed everything and delayed me all this time."