Cult of Imhotep

The Cult of Imhotep is an Egyptian cult and an evil organization that was led by Baltus Hafez in 1933 with the intent of aiding their master, the cursed mummy Imhotep whom the cult themselves also faithfully worships, in ruling the Earth forever. They are the supporting minor villains in The Mummy Returns.

The Cult of Imhotep
The cult was established by a large faction of fanatics that worshipped the ancient Egyptian pantheon of gods and was familiar with the legend of the cursed Scorpion King, knowing that whoever destroyed the Scorpion King would obtain his powers. The curator of the Egyptian wing of the British Museum of Antiquities, Baltus Hafez presided over the cult, with the resurrected form of Imhotep's long-dead love, Anck-Su-Namun, then under the reincarnated form of a mysterious Egyptian woman known as Meela Nais.

Digging in Hamunaptra
The cult enlisted the services of three criminals named Spivey, Red and Jacques to obtain the Bracelet of Anubis, the remaining artifact of the Scorpion King himself which would lead its wearer to Ahm Shere, the Scorpion King's resting place. Shortly after, the cult headed directly to Egypt, where they sought out the ruins of the ancient necropolis Hamunaptra, in which the remains of their soon-to-be leader remained buried. Enlisting the strength of hundreds of Fellahin workers, the cultists dug through the desert sands in search of their leader, finding the Book of the Dead and its golden twin, the Book of Amun-Ra. As the diggers mined through the sands one night, the three thieves returned to their employer, Hafez himself: Hafez inquiring about the Bracelet when the sandy grounds trembled and from one pit dug up, a large mound arose, giving way to thousands of carnivorous scarabs, which killed and ate all standing in the pit, causing the three hardened thieves to panic and the cultist leader himself to chuckle at their fear. One signal to his enforcers and flames were issued from flamethrowers, burning away the swarms of hungry beetles.

Within moments, the diggers managed to pull out the remains of Imhotep, who was encased in a massive chunk of amber-like mineral.

London
Intent on recovering the Bracelet of Anubis, the cult eventually caught up with the O'Connell family (who just happened to have the relic in their possession) following an invasion on their home in London; while Hafez and Meela led Shafek and two other cultists as they interigated Jonathan Carnahan for the bracelet, mistaking him for Rick O'Connell, Lock-Nah led five others as he demanded the chest supposedly containing the bracelet from Evelyn and Alex. When Evy refused to comply, following the sudden arrival of Ardeth Bay, Lock-Nah ordered his underlings to attack and take the chest. At the same time, Rick barged into the room where his brother-in-law was being held at the blade of a knife by Shafek and the fangs of an asp by Meela; believing the cultists to be Jonathan's party guests, Rick attempted to reason with them, but his words fell on deaf ears when Meela threw her snake at him. She then ordered one of the cultists to shoot him, but Rick threw the snake at him before he could fire, the snakebite instantly killing the man. Shafek intervened, throwing his dagger at Rick but dodged when Rick caught the blade and threw it back, hitting the second thug. At that instant, Rick and Jonathan were forced to run and take cover in the bathroom when a third cultist armed with a machine gun rushed into the room and fired at them. Meanwhile, as Evy and Ardeth fought Lock-Nah and his men, Alex tried to yank the chest away from the grasp of one of the thugs but failed. During the following duel between Ardeth and Lock-Nah, one of the enforcers knocked Evelyn unconscious with a direct blow to the head, carrying her with him; this distracted Ardeth, allowing Lock-Nah to overpower him with a minor slash to the chest before leaving the buiding. Moments later, after jumping with Jonathan through the bathroom window to escape the bullets of the machine gun-toting cultist, Rick saw his wife forced inside one of the vehicles of the thugs and tried to give chase only to repelled away by more cultists with machine guns in the other car.

With Evelyn and the chest in their possession, the cult then drove to the British Museum of Antiquities, wherein the stockroom they managed to ressurect their fallen master Imhotep (as well as the mummys on display in the process) via a ritual with Hafez reading an incantation from the Book of the Dead, followed by his men bowing and chanting in worship. Lock-Nah and several other cultists brought forth Evy who woke up from her unconcious state and was shocked to find that Hafez was leading her kidnappers and that they had rediscovered the corpse of the high priest. Once reanimated, Imhotep was pleased to hear from Hafez that the year of the Scorpion was upon them. Meela then stepped into the room and introduced herself to the undead mummy as the reincarnation of his beloved, Anck-Su-Namun, whom Evy recognized from her past life as Nefertiri; Imhotep stated that Meela was only Anck-Su-Namun's reincarnated body and that she would be brought back completely once soul was brought back from the Underworld. Meela directed Imhotep's attention to Evelyn, anticipating his satisfaction of watching her die before ordering the cultists to bring her to a flaming basin to burn her alive with a snap of her fingers. The attempt, however was thwarted by Rick who rushed in to rescue his wife while Ardeth fired down at the cultists from the top of a stairway, ingniting boxes of combustible liquids, killing several of the thugs in the explosions. Following a chase to the London Bridge with the O'Connells and Ardeth on a double-decker bus and the defeat of four mummied soldiers resurrected and ordered by Imhotep to kill them, Lock-Nah (knowing that Alex had the Braclet of Anubis) and a few cultists unexpectedly grabbed the boy, threw him in their car and drove off, closing off the drawbridge to keep a pursuing Rick on his side of the bridge, leaving him to watch them disappear with his son on the side.

Journey to Ahm Shere
The cult eventually met its end during the journey to Ahm Shere, in which a tribe of cannibal pygmies attacked, killing almost all of Hafez's minions. Survivors were shot by the O'Connels and Ardeth Bay.

Traits and Uniforms
Each cultist wore a bright red turban-like headdress atop a black band, a darker red-coloured tunic with flowing sashes that matched their headcloths, an ominous-looking red-and-black coloured rope worn across the chest in an 'X' shape, black loose-fitting trousers, black boots and a necklace bearing the symbol of the cult. Cultists were often armed with broad, sharp swords, knives, pistols, rifles, and machine guns.

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