CHAPTER 20
As the group hurried along, Drake became suddenly very aware of their circumstances. Kroonen had escaped. For all Drake knew, he had already left the caverns, and he had the toxin with him. But it also dawned on him that in order to leave the underground city, Kroonen would need the key, the seal the Imperial Cult had forged to limit access to their underground kingdom. Drake had no idea where it had gone; he only knew that it had been lost when the Operatives had first emerged into the main cavern. If Kroonen had yet to find the seal, he had no means of escape. Drake quickened his pace, hoping desperately that by some miracle Kroonen had not yet managed to leave the underground city.
At this faster rate, Drake soon entered a main tunnel that led towards the main cavern. He was almost at a running pace now, with Sully and Flynn barely managing to keep up. As he ran out into the main cavern, he caught sight of Kroonen, squatting down in the corner of the chamber with his back turned to Drake. As he stood up, Drake noticed that in his hand he was holding the seal that acted as the key to the underground city.
Drake began to move towards Kroonen when he saw out of the corner of his eye Flynn heading off in a separate direction. Drake turned to Sully, who was close behind him, and whispered.
"Where is he going?"
"Going to raid the room where we found the sword." Sully explained with a shrug. "Trying to grab more gold?"
Drake nodded then turned to face Kroonen again, who was still unaware of their presence. He could deal with Flynn later. Right now, Kroonen was the main focus, and at this moment he was walking down the entrance corridor towards the sand trap room. Drake turned and nodded to Sully a sign of confirmation, the two experienced friends sharing a silent plot. The two of them moved as quickly yet quietly as they could, turning the corner sharply and slowing down to watch Kroonen.
When Kroonen drew near to the large door of the sand room, he stopped on a stone that dropped down under his weight. The door slid open, and the door on the other side of the trap chamber also opened. Kroonen walked straight through, the door sliding down behind him.
"Let's go." Drake said to Sully, running forward.
The two men ran towards the door, standing on the same piece of floor Kroonen had. As expected, the tile lowered under their weight and the door opened wide. A surprised Kroonen turned around sharply, and with a look of shock, he stared across the chamber at Drake and Sully.
"Drake?!" Kroonen gasped.
"That's right you son of a bitch." Drake said, running forward. He signaled for Sully to stay on the tile, keeping the doors open as he raced toward Kroonen. Drake could see in Kroonen's eyes a moment of hesitation, then replaced by determination as he charged forward to meet Drake.
The two men rammed into each other, and Drake was shocked at just how strong Kroonen was. He barely kept his footing as the two of them grappled, and toppled to the floor when, with a quick sweep of his leg, Kroonen knocked Drake down.
"I know you are strong because you beat Mason," Kroonen sneered "but all he had was brute strength. I have actual training and skill."
Kroonen dropped down, driving his fist towards Drake, but Drake rolled out of the way, causing Kroonen to slam his fist into the ground. Drake jumped up and jutted out with his knee, striking Kroonen in the head.
"Yeah, well clearly not enough training." Drake said with a cocky smile. Kroonen scowled and leapt up, grabbing Drake and forcing him against a wall.
"I can't get a clear shot!" Sully shouted from his position on the tile.
"Then don't shoot." Drake grunted back as he tried to wrestle free of Kroonen's grip.
"No shit don't shoot."
Drake managed to twist around and free enough space to drop away from Kroonen. He tried to land a few punches as well, but Kroonen was too fast and managed to block them all. It was then that Kroonen started switching to the offensive, and Drake got a real taste of what kind of damage the man could do.
The punches came in fast and hard, smacking Drake in the ribs and face. As much as he tried to block them, most of the strikes went straight through his defenses. After one particularly hard strike, Drake was knocked backwards, falling to the ground in the frame of the massive doorway. Kroonen walked over and fit his foot on Drake's neck.
"Now to end this once and for all!" He said menacingly, applying pressure to Drake's throat.
"I don't think so!" Came Sully's gruff voice. Drake couldn't see much, but he did see Sully's pistol swing into his vision, smashing into Kroonen's nose, causing him to tumble back.
"Way to go Sully!" Drake cheered. He stood up from the ground and turned to face his friend. But because Sully had moved off the tile to hit Kroonen, the door was now beginning to slide down, separating Drake and Sully. As disconcerting as this separation was, Drake was far more distracted by something else.
"Sully, behind you!" He warned, fear ringing through his voice. Sully turned and saw exactly what was scaring Drake so badly. A swarm of Imperials, probably the last remaining few of the entire civilization. Some were armored and armed, others in shambles from a previous battle.
Drake could no longer see anything above Sully's waist, but heard the older man cock his trusty pistol. A sense of dread filled him as he realized Sully was planning on fighting the swarm on his own. He dropped to his hands and knees to shout through the small opening of the closing door.
"Sullivan, what the hell are you doing?! Get under here!" He cried out.
"Don't worry about me, Nate." Sully responded, not an ounce of fear in his voice. "I may be old, but I can still handle these guys. You go after Kroonen, I'll be fine."
Before Drake could say anything else, the door slammed against the ground, sealing itself shut.
Drake stood up from his position on the floor and turned around. The opposite door was still open, and Kroonen stood leaning in the doorway, mopping blood off of his face.
"I think my nose will be permanently deformed having been smashed so many times." Kroonen complained, not even looking up at Drake.
"That's the least of your worries." Drake snarled, pulling out his pistol. He only had one clip left, but he really only needed one bullet. Drake stepped forward, but Kroonen held up the syringe of toxin.
"This is all you really want, isn't it?" Kroonen said, and Drake stopped in his tracks. "Why do you want it so bad? Killing me would have the same effect, and is far simpler than stealing the vial from me. So why is it so important that you take it? Do you plan to use it?"
"No..." Drake said, pausing to think about the question. For the first time since the door had shut, Kroonen looked at Drake.
"So you don't even know, do you?" Kroonen chuckled and stood straight, walking slowly towards Drake with his hands in the air. "All you know is that you need to stop me; stop the bad guy, save the world." Kroonen shook his head, still laughing. "You really are as self-righteous as you pretend to be. How impudently pious." Kroonen was now within arm's reach of Drake, and the gun was practically touching his forehead.
"One more step and I blow out your brains." Drake said. It had been a good question though. Why didn't he just kill Kroonen? He wasn't sure, all he knew is that he couldn't kill him right now. There needed to be something more…
"Perhaps I should get to the point." Kroonen said, still staring into Drake's eyes intensely.
"Please. Do." Drake said, his voice dripping with sarcastic anger.
"I want to make a proposition." Kroonen said, smiling as if this were some business deal. "You let me go, you put aside your need to be the hero for one moment and let me run up those stairs and to my remaining army." Drake opened his mouth to speak but Kroonen hushed him. "Ah-ah, wait to hear my end of the deal. Quid pro quo, after all. In return I will do two things for you. I will give you a small sample of the toxin for you to take, allowing you to try to find a cure in the time it takes me to develop my weapons. Also, I will give you this underground city."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Drake asked, his eyebrows twitching in confusion.
"Quite simply, I have the key that raises the staircase." Kroonen explained. "Oh, and this." Kroonen pulled a small remote control out of his pocket and pressed a button. "On our way down here, Mason planted some explosives along the stairwell. I just activated them. We have twenty minutes. I can disengage the explosives at any time. Otherwise, the stairs will be destroyed, either trapping us down here or making it so no man will ever see this place again. So what do you say? A chance to save the world through a cure, and the ability to show the world this wonder and claim it's fame for yourself. All you need to do is let me go."
Drake stared at Kroonen for a few tense seconds. The sound of Sully's firefight on the other side of the door was barely audible, but it was enough to remind Drake that they were pressed for time.
"Tough luck, Jozeph. You're not getting out of here." Drake said, and Kroonen's face dropped into a tight frown. For a moment, Drake thought Kroonen was going to make another point and keep arguing. Instead, Kroonen's arm shot out at an incredible speed, grabbing ahold of Drake's gun and twisting it out of his grip. The gun went sliding all the way across the chamber, skidding past the door frame. Drake and Kroonen grappled briefly, and Drake wound up for a head-butt. Unfortunately, Kroonen had the same thought at the same time, and the two men bashed heads forcefully together. Both staggered and fell to the ground. Drake's head felt like it had been hit with a rock, lights danced before his eyes and his vision blurred slightly. The room felt like it was spinning, and he clutched his head as he rolled on the ground.
Drake started slowly getting to his feet, using the wall to support his weight. He turned his head and saw Kroonen doing the same, but headed towards the gun and exit. Drake stumbled around, trying to regain his balance, when he toppled against the closed door. Kroonen was still making quick progress towards the chamber exit, and Drake needed to act quickly. An idea occurred to him, and as foolish as it might be, it seemed his only option.
Lifting himself to his feet once more, Drake reached up and out with his hands, groping against the door. Soon he found what he was looking for, and he turned the dials set in the door. The opposite door slammed shut, inches from Kroonen's face, sealing them both in the sand trap chamber. Drake now stood to full height, most of his head pain having faded. Kroonen stood still for a moment, then slowly turned to face Drake just as the sand started trickling out of the roof.
"15 minutes, Nathan." Kroonen said, lifting up the device he had. "And you can't turn it off without the code that only I know."
"Well then we can both be trapped down here." Drake said, walking forward while holding a fighting pose.
"You can't beat me, Nathan."
"I don't need to beat you. I just need to stall you for 15 minutes."
"Go ahead and try."
"Oh, I will."
Just as Drake was reaching Kroonen, who had strapped the vial back to his belt and was now also in a fighting pose, Drake kicked out, launching a cloud of the ankle-high sand into Kroonen's face. Kroonen cried out in surprised and his hands went up. Drake dropped in, jabbing him in the stomach while grasping the vial. As Kroonen reeled back, Drake managed to unstrap the vial.
"No!" Kroonen cried out, tackling Drake. The syringe flew out of Drake's hands and onto a pile of sand. Kroonen pinned down Drake, trying to hold his face down while reaching for the vial that was being covered up by the growing pile of sand. Drake bucked upwards, causing Kroonen to fall forward and face-plant.
Drake rolled over and plunged his hand into the sand, being careful not to get stabbed by the syringe needle. He wrapped his hand around the vial just as Kroonen kicked him under the jaw, and he toppled back. Kroonen caught sight of the vial in Drake's hand and snarled.
"Give it to me!"
Drake scrambled to his feet to avoid another kick, and Kroonen instead switched to fists. Drake tried as hard as he could to block while defending the vial, but he was still taking a heavy beating. He soon felt the wall behind his back and could move no further. Kroonen rammed him hard using his shoulder, knocking the breath out of Drake and causing him to drop the syringe. Kroonen reached down to pick it up, and Drake too the opportunity to lace his fingers together and bring his double fist smashing down on Kroonen's back. He followed it up with a hard knee and then a kick to the chest.
Kroonen had been unable to pick the syringe up, and Drake now fished it out of the waist high sand. But Kroonen was on him again, grabbing his wrist and trying to pull it down while Drake kept it as straight up as he could, using his free hand to block attacks from Kroonen's free hand.
"Give… it… to… me!" Kroonen grunted angrily, trying harder to pull the syringe closer. With the sand gathering, his movement was limited and kept the vial in Drake's hand just out of reach.
"You want it so bad?" Drake asked, putting more effort into pulling his hand away, so Kroonen tried harder to pull it towards himself. "Here, take it!" Drake shouted, now shifting his efforts, pushing forward with the arm holding the syringe.
Kroonen, unprepared for the sudden shift in resistance, was unable to react fast enough to stop Drake. The syringe plunged into his neck, and the fluid was quickly injected into his body.
"NOOOO!" Kroonen cried, pulling out the syringe and screaming in pain, clawing at his neck. Drake pulled himself out of the sand and crawled over to the door, turning the dials. Kroonen sank into the sand still screaming, and Drake hurried to dial in the ciphered code before the sands engulfed him as well.
As soon as all the dials were set, there was the familiar grinding of gears as the sand drained and was lifted up the walls. Both doors slid open, and Drake immediately looked through to check on Sully.
Thankfully, his friend was alive, surrounded by dead Imperials. Also standing there with an Uzi in his hand was Flynn.
"About time you finished in there." Sully said as soon as he saw Drake. "Look who showed up to help." He said while jerking his thumb in Flynn's direction. Flynn and Drake looked at each other, but remained silent. Clearly the tension remained.
"Sully, we have to go." Drake said, turning and leading them through the chamber. As soon as they walked in, they had to stop and stare at the body on the ground.
"Jesus, is that Kroonen?" Sully asked. It was a fair question, for the body was entirely unrecognizable. The hair, teeth, and nails had all fallen out. The eyes looked like they had melted in their sockets and blood dripped from the mouth, ears , and nose. Perhaps worst was the fact that, although having died only moments before, the skin looked as though it had been dead and decaying for several years.
Drake walked over and quickly patted down the body, fishing from Kroonen's pocket the seal that acted as key to the underground city as well as the device he had used to arm the bombs. It was covered in several buttons, many numbered, and Drake didn't dare to touch a single one. What he was interested in was the small screen that had the word "ARMED" in red displayed on the top and a small digital timer ticking underneath it.
"Oh shit, we got to go!" Drake exclaimed, dropping the device.
"What the hell, kid?" Sully asked.
"There are bombs set on the stairs. We have a little over four minutes before they go off and we get trapped down here." Drake explained, running down the tunnel to the stairs and quickly setting the seal in place. The stairs soon appeared, winding their way up to the surface. Drake spotted the bombs, small blinking red lights, set every few feet up the staircase.
"Let's go!" he shouted, sprinting up. Sully and Flynn followed closely, running up the stairs towards the surface. Drake noticed that the lights on the bombs were beginning to blink faster. He quickened his pace, mentally estimating the two minutes they had to escape. 90 seconds…
The group toppled out of the staircase onto the surface, drenched in sweat and out of breath. They had escaped with maybe ten seconds to spare. Drake looked around and saw that the sun was just beginning to rise over the empty Roman Forum, and he realized they had been underground for over 24 hours.
Drake looked down at the seal that was in his hands and made a quick decision. He turned towards the staircase and tossed the seal into and down it. Only a few seconds after, loud explosions sounded off, and the marble staircase shuddered violently, then crumbled down into itself. The dirt around the secret entrance sagged and caved it, filling up the space. Soon, all that remained of the altar and secret entrance to the underground city of the Imperials was a slight dip in the otherwise flat ground.
After they had all caught their breath, Flynn quickly turned and left them behind. Drake tried to insist that he stay, but Flynn simply called him a traitorous backstabber and left them. As Drake and Sully stood in the Forum, a small group of police officers arrived, attracted by the explosions. Seeing Drake and Sully, beaten and covered in blood, they promptly arrested the two men.
As they sat in the police station, Drake was afraid he would be spending the next few months, or years, in jail. However, an officer came in after an hour or so and informed them that due to a technicality, they were to be released. Drake was confused until he saw Sully and one of the Captains share a smile and nod, a sign that their freedom was the handiwork of another one of Sully's "called-in favors".
"So what do we do now?" Drake asked, stretching out in front of the police station as a cool breeze drifted by. It was a beautiful day in Rome, and right now he felt lucky just to be alive. According to Sully, they were also very lucky to have been caught by municipal police and not the Carabinieri; if that had been the case no friends could save them.
"I suppose we should return to Corfu soon. We do have to take a train all the way to Brindisi before we can even start sailing back." Sully turned to Drake and smiled. "But we do have two more days to get there, and it will only take one day."
"So a day relaxing in Rome?" Drake asked, returning the smile.
"A day relaxing in Rome sounds fantastic. Let me just buy some cigars."
"One of your cigars nearly killed us." Drake said, laughing. Sully laughed back, though grew silent once the laughter faded. There was a brief moment of soberness as the elation waned.
"We really dodged a bullet back there, didn't we?" Sully asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Sully, I think it's fair to say we dodged several bullets." Drake retorted, leaning against the wall of a tobacco store while waving Sully toward the entrance. Sully was about to walk in but stopped in the doorway and looked at Drake, trying to read him.
"We sure did, kid. We sure did."
Author's Notes: Well, we've come a long way everybody, but finally we have reached the conclusion. I'll post the epilogue in a day or so, but that's the majority of the adventure. Thanks to everybody for reading my story and leaving such wonderful reviews, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing. I am already working on another book, although it is in more of a gestation period. Those who have been following this story and enjoy my writing will receive a message one of these days letting you know when said story is up on fictionpress. Thank you all again for your time.