Reviews:
Guest (Feb 15):
Thanks.
Tera12:
Glad you like it.
Reasonable man:
I really apologize for how long it takes for me to update my stories. My schedule doesn't always really allow me to update quickly. I will however take your other suggestions into consideration as I continue to write.
Facebreaker17:
Glad you like it. Hope that continues.
buterflypus:
Thanks.
Grounded Forever:
I could, but if I do, it'll be a while as I want to finish some of the Naruto stories I'm already working on, plus there are some others I want to do first.
Neah Walker 17:
Glad you like it.
Please remember to review with any comments, question, concerns, or constructive criticism that you might have.
"This is speaking in English"
"This is speaking in Japanese."
Chapter 9:
Assault on the Fortress!
Lara was once more wishing that she could do some of the things that Minato could, specifically the ability to clone herself, as she fired her bow at the Solarii sniping at her with rifles and bows while others used ziplines to slide down to her and try to attack her at close range.
She rolled out from behind the crate she was using as cover when one of the Solarii tossed a stick of dynamite to force her out. She hissed with pain as a flaming arrow scratched her arm. Another Solarii tried to hit her with crude ax, but she dodged the swipe and stabbed him in the neck with one of her arrows. She then yanked the arrow back out, nocked it, and shot it at one of the snipers, the arrow embedding in his eye.
She pulled her pistol with her free hand and shot another two as they slid down a pair of ziplines. She grabbed another tossed stick of dynamite and threw it back at the snipers. When it exploded, three more snipers were killed. A final Solarii tried to attack her with a pair of machetes, but Lara shot him between the eyes with her pistols.
"Get reinforcements! Go! Go!" one of the remaining Solarii shouted as he and his comrades fled.
Grim climbed down a ladder to a lower platform from where he helplessly watched the battle.
"Lara, you're alive!" Grim shouted gleefully.
"Just barely," she said with a tired smile, "Where are the others?"
"Still locked up inside," the old man said, pointing to a nearby fortress, "But I know where they are. Get up here and we'll get 'em out together."
"I can't get up there from here," she said, sighing.
"Ahh, damn it," Grim cursed, thinking for a few seconds before saying, "Well, they got some kinda setup for haulin' cargo. Maybe you can use it to come around the other side?"
"Alright," she sighed, "I'm on my way."
She leapt up to grab the zipline that was in reach and pulled herself along to reach where the corpses of the snipers were already beginning to cool. She poked through their pockets to see if she could find more ammo and scrap that she could use.
Once she was certain there was nothing more to be found, then she continued to another zipline to move to the top of the large gate she passed when she first entered the shantytown.
The intellectual part of her mind was a little impressed that these Solarii managed to build such a massive wall out of old and rusted metal from the many wrecked ships, but that thought was quickly pushed aside when she heard more Solarii spot her and charged at from across the gate. With a single arrow, she killed the one that stayed back in order to give the chargers cover before she turned her aim to the chargers. Due to the narrow walkway, there was no way for the chargers to dodge the arrows that ended their lives. She pressed forward, moving across the massive gate to the conveyor belt that was used to move huge crates from one end of the shantytown to the other. She climbed onto one of the moving crates and rode it to the receiving tower near where Grim was waiting for her.
As she got close, Lara shouted, "Grim? Are you there?"
It was a few moments before Grim answered as he stumbled out from between two windmill towers, "It's a trap, Lass!" A solarii grabbed Grim and pulled him back towards the windmill, "Show 'em yer teeth, Lara! Give 'em hell!"
An explosion took out the bridge connecting the two windmills and once more separating Lara from Grim again.
She drew her bow and shot at some of the Solarii. Solarii armed with axes and machetes jumped to slide down ziplines to reach her. Lara refused to let them get a foothold on her platform by taking them down either on the ziplines or as soon as their feet touched the platform.
'They're not going to win!' she thought as she continued to fight, 'I won't lose Grim or anyone else!'
As the Solarii numbers started dwindle, the solarii started moving back from their firing positions while one moved forward, pushing Grim before him, controlling the old man with a machete to his neck.
"Drop your weapons!" the Solarii holding Grim ordered, "Or we'll kill your friend!"
"Don't fuckin' do it!" Grim begged Lara.
Having enough of waiting, the Solarii started cutting Grim's throat, blood dripping from the cut.
"Okay! Okay!" Lara said, putting her bow down and holding up her hands.
"That's nothing, pal. I grew up in Glasgow," Grim growled.
"Now, kick them over the edge," the Solarii ordered.
Just then, Lara heard a voice make a shout that made her spirits soar.
"Secret Grim Style Technique: Glasgow Kiss!" Minato shouted as he dropped from his hiding spot to headbutt the Solarii soldier holding Grim hostage.
The attack sent the three men tumbling over the edge of the platform, but Minato managed to grab Grim's hand with one hand and the edge of the platform with the other. Lara grabbed her bow and fired at the other Solarii, but she luckily had some help as some of Minato's clones dropped down from above to start tearing into the Solarii.
Minato helped Grim onto the platform and the two charged into the fray with Minato drawing a ninjato from one of his seals and Grim grabbing up a rifle from one of the fallen Solarii.
With the three fighters plus the additional clones attacking them from multiple sides, the solarii were easily overwhelmed and wiped out.
Once the last of the solarii were killed, Lara used a zipline to make her way to the second windmill.
As soon as she dropped from the zipline, she ran to grab Minato in a tight hug.
"I'm so glad that you're safe. I was worried you got hurt," she said, still hugging him.
"If I knew this was the greeting I'd get, I'd have let you think I was dead earlier!" Minato joked.
"Don't even joke about that!" she warned with a half-hearted glare.
Their reunion was interrupted by Grim laughing loudly, "Damn, lass, you sure work fast!"
It was then that Lara realized the position she was in and gasped while she jumped out of his arms.
"So, are you happy to see me too, lass?" Grim laughed, making the woman blush.
"O-Of course!" she said, "How did you escape?"
"Wasn't easy, I'll tell ya that, but I guess they weren't expectin' an old man like me to give 'em such a hard time when they were movin' me!" Grim laughed.
"I need to head up there," Lara said, gesturing to the fortress on the mountain.
"What 'bout your friend there and his tw-wait, where the bloody 'ell did they go?" Grim asked, noticing that Minato's clones were gone.
"It's a little hard to explain quickly," she said, "Roth should be getting here soon. Will you be alright here by yourself?"
"Bah, I ain't no titterin' ole man jus' yet!" he said waving off her concerns, "I may be up in the years, but I can handle meself!"
Lara nodded and turned to Minato to explain everything that had transpired and what they needed to do.
"Okay, so let's head out and save your friends," Minato said.
The two moved to a zipline that was connecting to the mountainside that was the path to the fortress. Minato used his chakra to jump across the gap while Lara used the zipline to crawl across.
Once they were across, Roth's voice came across the radio, "Lara, I see your ninja friend caught up to you."
"Roth? Where are you? What about Captain Ryan?" she asked, looking around to see if she could spot her teacher.
"I've got a sniper perch and I can see the whole area until the palace walls. Ryan said he'd meet up with us later at this rendezvous location we decided on. I see Grim managed to get out from those bastards' grasp. Shoulda known the old man was too stubborn to die," Roth said.
"Who ya callin' old, ya ol' bastard!?" Grim shouted over the radio, "I'm young enough ta figure out your radio channel, ain't I?"
Lara smiled at the interaction between the two, remembering how they acted similarly on the ship.
"Roth, can you give Minato and I some cover while we make our way up?" Lara asked.
"No problem, girl," Roth answered, "Grim, you see the tower off to your right? That's where you'll find me. Can you make it here?"
"Simple enough," Grim grunted, "I'd have a harder time goin' down to the pub back home!"
"Alright," Lara said, "We'll get going."
As the woman and her ninja companion moved through ruined Japanese buildings connected by ancient bridges that had fallen apart, repaired, and fallen apart again, they heard the pilot of a rescue helicopter come over the radio while Roth tried to speak to the pilot, only to receive silence in return. Lara felt her spirits soar even higher at hearing that a chopper was in. She told Roth to set up a signal before she explained everything that had been said to Minato.
"Good," Minato said, nodding, though his tone didn't sound as happy as Lara would have thought.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
Minato just shook his head.
Any further talk was interrupted by Roth warning them that the large bridge ahead of them was packed with solarii soldiers.
"Great," Lara sighed, "Any ideas?"
"It'll be tricky," he said, "But you might be able to make your way across underneath."
"I was afraid you were going to say that," Lara sighed before she translated Roth's words to Minato.
"I'll head over the top and draw their attention," Minato said, which Lara translated to Roth.
"No problem, Lara," Roth said, "I'll be covering you the whole way as welll."
Lara continued on her own path, moving through the ruined building to the bottom level of the bridge, while Minato moved to the top level of the bridge.
"Lara, I've got them covered and Minato's moving in," Roth said over the radio.
Lara moved under the bridge just below the Solarii's feet.
"What's going on down there?" one of the soldiers asked, referring to the gunfire, "Think they got the outsider?"
"If they didn't, she'll be heading tow-wait, who's tha-ack!" the speaking solarii was cut off by the sound of metal slicing through flesh and blood dripping from between the wood above Lara.
"Intruder! Intruder on the bridge!" the other solarii shouted before Lara heard him die as well.
Lara came to a hole in the level above her where Solarii ran over to try and retaliate against Minato's onslaught. One of the Solarii spotted her at the hole and prepared to fire, but a rifle shot rang out and the man took a headshot before his body fell through the hole, breaking through the thin wood Lara was standing on. She managed to grab a wooden beam to keep from falling to her death. She started moving around as she heard the Solarii start to panic. They weren't prepared to deal with both the sniper and the attacking Minato. Lara managed to make her way to the side of the bridge. She managed to make it to an opening in the railing and climbed up. One of the surviving Solarii managed to grab her and, wrapping an arm around her neck, yelled for the attackers to stop their assault. Lara headbutted the man, giving Roth the shot he needed to take him out. Lara and the corpse would have tumbled over the edge of the bridge if Minato hadn't managed to grab her and pull her to safety.
"Nice catch, boy," Roth said, over the radio, "You two should get moving. There are too many for you two to get in on top of the bridge. Get out of there!"
Despite not knowing what Roth was saying, Minato spotted the solarii charging out of the palace fortress and scooped Lara up in his arms before running to the side of the bridge. He leapt off to land on the roof of a small building attached to the cliff face and then leapt to the next as the Solarii fired at them. The two managed to make their way around the cliff face to reach a small cave.
"You alright, Lara-chan?" Minato asked, setting her down to her feet.
She nodded and pulled the radio off of her belt, "We're heading in, Roth."
"Are you sure about this, Lara?" Roth asked.
Lara looked to Minato who was examining the cave entrance, and said, "I'm sure. We'll get them out and we'll be back. I promise."
"Should we get going?" Minato asked, still eyeing the cave, which Lara noticed seemed to be mostly flooded.
"Yes," she said, "Though I can't say I'm going to enjoy it."
Minato made a handsign and created a few more clones that ran out of the cave, "They should draw most of the defenders to them."
Lara nodded and turned back to the cave, "Here we go," she muttered as she moved into the cave, holding her torch over her head.
The water quickly reached over their heads and the two had to bounce on the tips of their toes in order to keep their heads above the putrid liquid. After a couple of minutes passing through the disgusting water, they came out in cave that was more or less dry.
Noticing that the walls of the passageway was decorated with human skulls, Minato muttered, "Well, this is certainly inviting. Surprised there isn't someone here to offer us tea and cookies."
In spite of her nervousness brought on by her situation and surroundings, Lara couldn't help but smile at his sarcastic joke and thank whatever god that was listening that she had him back by her side.
A/N: And there's chapter 9! Please remember to review with any comments, question, concerns, or constructive criticism that you might have.
