Disclaimer: Supreme Commander is the property of Games Powered Games. Tomb Raider is the property of Core Design and/or Crystal Dynamics. Any similarities to actual people or events are purely coincidental. Crossroads: Prologue
Earth
Year – 1948 AD
11:07p.m. – 100 miles west of New Delhi
"Mechanical Monster my ass." Mr. Honinburg said, scowling at the four workers who had hastily exited the recently opened temple.
"It's true! A beast lives down there! One so monstrous the ground shook with every step!" One of the workers cried.
"This machine was not forged by man!" Another worker stated as he attempted to catch his breath.
"Wait one second here," Mr. Honinburg tried to clarify. "First you say it's some type of monster then you say it's some kind of machine."
"Yes." The first worker said. "It was mechanical but moved like no machine. I think…" the worker paused. "I think… it saw me." Mr. Honinburg raised both eyebrows.
"…It 'saw' you?" He was skeptical. Mr. Honinburg leaned closer to one of his guards. "It's probably some type of ancient statue. You know how superstitious these people are." The guard nodded his head slightly. Mr. Honinburg turned back at the workers. "Listen, Its been a long day and you've been working hard, maybe you should get some rest." The four workers all nodded and started to make for their tents, until Honinburg noticed something out of place. "Wait! Where's Abbey?" The four workers looked at each other then back at Honinburg. No explanation was required. Mr. Honinburg quickly reacted. "You! Call the Hospital at Rajgarh!"
"It'll be a few hours before they can get here." The guard said just before dashing off to the phone.
"We don't have a few hours! Abbey could be dying down there, we can't just wait for the medics!" Honinburg stared down into the open doorway of the ancient temple. "You there!" He pointed at six of the other workers that had been working on another site a few meters north. "Come with me... Don't think I've forgotten about you, you're coming too." Honinburg said as he drew his Luger from it's hiding place. The guard next to him loaded his M-1 Grand and took a step forward.
"This is what you pay us for." The mercenary waved two of his fellow men down, the two came jogging over also loading their own weapons. One of the mercenaries began to hand pistols to the six workers accompanying them. "Lets go." The mercenary stated.
They began to make their way down the staircase. Honinburg lit a match to illuminate the surrounding area. The lead mercenary held a torch over the small flame. The lighting increased. Honinburg grasped another torch on his right, lit it, and continued. The narrow passage led to a massive room. A few torches were perched on the walls, some had fallen on the ground still lit.
"This looks like the place." The mercenary said plainly as the group began to fan out.
"How would you know. No one's been in here for hundreds of years." Honinburg said with his head up, scanning the room.
"True, except for the team you sent in here." One of the mercenaries commented. Honinburg cupped his mouth.
"Abbey!" His voice echoed through the seemingly empty chamber.
"Well I see no evidence of any monster, alive or otherwise." The lead mercenary said.
"Abbey!" Honinburg continued to call.
"Would you stop that!" The lead mercenary urged. Honinburg glared at the man.
"Excuse me for trying to find my daughter!"
"These stone walls are extremely unstable! They could go at any moment! I would love to find your daughter quickly too! But when the ceiling collapses in on us, that's gonna make finding and retrieving your daughter quite impossible now!" Honinburg continued to glare at the mercenary, who started to move forward again. "And if you die I don't get paid." He muttered to himself.
"What was that?" Questioned Honinburg. Before the mercenary could respond, an ear-pricing scream rang out. Everyone jerked their heads toward the screech. Squinting to see a light at the end of the ancient chamber. A shot, unlike any heard before, rippled through the crumbling structure. It was like something out of a science fiction picture. A large mass of stone and fire engulfed the doorway.
"ABBEY!" Honinburg burst forward with unrelenting speed that would give Hermes a run for his money.
"Honinburg!" Shouted the lead mercenary, sprinting after the desperate father. Abigail Honinburg was bolting for her father.
"DAD! RUN! GET OUT!" But Honinburg continued to charge forward to the only thing that mattered to him. Abigail collapsed into her father's arms. "…Run…" She fell unconscious. Little did Honinburg and his companions know that Abigail Honinburg was being pursued by the worst kind of foe, a nameless one. The reunion was short lived as a collection of wiring gears of gigantic proportions loomed toward them. The doorway that Abigail had exited, burst into a thousand pieces. Through the enlarged opening, a massive black figure emerged. It's blood red eyes, pierced the darkness.
"My… God… FIRE!" The lead mercenary ordered. But only the two other men opened up on the menacing machine. At the sight of the beast, the other six workers had fled to the surface leaving their weapons behind. The bullets did nothing to the seemingly impenetrable armor of the giant.
"You! Get my daughter out of here!" Honinburg passed the unconscious body of his daughter to one of the mercenaries. Mr. Honinburg aimed his Luger at one of the four blood red 'eyes' of the beast and fired. The shots uselessly bounced off the demonic aggressor's armor. The three mercenaries, who only stopped firing to reload, were standing near the exit to the stairs. Waiting for their employer to make his way back. But Honinburg continued to attack the colossal machine. Fear was not present in his eyes, but vengeance.
"Professor!" The lead mercenary shouted, half-expecting Honinburg to remain firing at the machine, Honinburg snapped out of his trance and dropped his Luger as the colossal figure took a step forward, the stone ground crumbling and groaning beneath. The step brought the demon into the light that was shining through a hole in the ceiling that, until recently, had been closed. The blazing blood red eyes flared, the spikes protruding from both sides of its head and shoulders were illuminated by the red glow, as if blood was dripping from the jagged edges. Abbey began to regain consciousness. "Honinburg! MOVE! NOW!" The lead mercenary urged the archaeologist. As Honinburg attempted to flee, he inexplicably tripped over one of the lit torches, landing face first on the stone floor. The machine started to raise it's other leg.
"Daddy!" Abbey screamed, unable to run to her father's aide. For the mercenary that had carried her this far still held a firm grip on her. She struggled to get free. Honinburg rolled over, only to see the under foot of the demon. Landing with a definitive crash. Professor Sven Honinburg was no more. "DADDY!"
"Up! Up the stairs! GO!" The lead mercenary ordered. The machine raised its head toward the mercenary. The lead mercenary paused for a moment before tossing a lit stick of dynamite at the creature. Flesh or metal, barely anything survives the blast, and if the blast doesn't kill it the cave-in would. The other two mercenaries were already half way up the stairs. The demon prepared to fire again, a dark purplish glow began to form at the tip of the demon's right arm. Black balls of energy began to swirl around the growth. Spinning faster, faster, faster, then collected and sprang forward.
"MOVE!" Barked the mercenary. The dynamite detonated below the machine. Causing it to stumble slightly, forcing its right arm up. The energy erupted from the muzzle racing toward the ceiling instead of its intended target. Massive boulders of rock and stone fell upon the demonic machine like an avalanche. The shock sent the three mercenaries sprawling down the stairs. The lead mercenary was able to catch himself, halting the others fall. "GET UP! MOVE! MOVE!" The group quickly came to their feet including Abbey. The cave-in continued not twenty feet away. The walls of the stairwell began to crumble under the strain. Chunks of stone fell out of the once solid walls and rolled down, bashing the climbers' legs. They pressed on. "Almost there!" The lead mercenary shouted. The light from the exit started to flicker, it was then that the mercenary noticed the exceptionally large stone slab slowly starting to lower itself. "Alright! MOVE IT!" Seeing the light shrink before them, the group redoubled their efforts to make it out alive. The Lead mercenary bolted ahead, past the falling debris, to try and hold the door open for just a bit longer. One mercenary slipped on a stone and fell on the stair splitting his head open, blood started to seep out of the fresh wound. The other mercenary looked back at his injured comrade then back at Abbey who was waiting for him at the top of the stair just inches away from the outside.
"Go!" The mercenary headed back down to assist the injured man. Abbey moved out of the temple steps into safety, the lead mercenary still attempting to hold the stone slab up, although his strength was quickly wavering.
"Come on!" Abbey cried. Just as the mercenary started back up the stair, his friend over his shoulder, he saw the failing strength of his leader. The lead mercenary gazed at the doomed pair, the other mercenary gazing back. He understood. Without further delay the lead mercenary jumped out from under the slab of stone into the open. The door closed with a thud of stone against soil. In less than ten hours of it's reopening, the ancient structure had lost the name temple, and gained the title… tomb.
