Chapter 5: Mt. Rainier Key
Phoenix watched the clouds pass by out the airplane window with fascination. She, Lara and Jonah have decided the first stop to find the Fire Bird Feather keys is Washington State and are now on a flight there. A large mountain, about 14,411 ft., came into view. Lara notices it as well.
"That's Mt. Rainier, largest volcano in the Cascade Range. According to the map one of the Fire Bird Feather keys is inside that volcano," said Lara
"They put one of the keys in that?" said Jonah looking over, in disbelief that someone would put something like a Fire Bird Feather key inside a volcano.
Phoenix felt nervous about the idea of going inside a volcano. She has remembered studying two of the Cascade volcanoes in school, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier. She has heard about the Mt. St. Helens Eruption that took place in 1980. She watched a documentary about Mt. Rainier and how dangerous it's next eruption could be. Said eruption could be even more disastrous because there are so many towns surrounding that monster. She could only hope that Trinity or her and Lara don't do something stupid.
That thought just came from watching too many movies. I mean come on it's not like removing an artifact is going to make a volcano explode in real life right? Phoenix thought to herself.
"Mt. Rainier has a bit of an ice cave network and the key is inside one of those ice caves. We just need to navigate the ice cave network and find it. Hopefully we'll get it before Trinity does," said Lara
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"PHOENIX! GET OVER HERE NOW!" Salem had bellowed out drunkenly
Seven year old Phoenix was hiding under her bed from her Dad who ended up drinking way too much. Everytime he does this he always hits her and her Mom either with his bare hands or with an object. Sometimes he would throw things at them. Phoenix remained hidden not to make a sound and hoped that the monster would leave her alone tonight. The bedroom door was thrown open, the strong scent of cigarette smoke wafted into the air.
"Found you!" Salem's larger hand wrapped itself around her wrist pulling her out from underneath the bed
Phoenix starts sobbing and crying in fear over what he is about to do to her. Salem slaps her in response.
"Don't start that with me!" Salem presses his cigarette against her neck making her wail in pain.
"When I tell you to get over here, YOU LISTEN!" Salem starts hitting her with his leather belt, hard
Phoenix screamed in pain as the blows struck and she wondered why her Dad was doing this to her. She hears another voice calling out to her this one was different.
"Phoenix? Phoenix wake up!"
Phoenix shot up from the bed breathing heavily. She looked around the room to see where she was and she realized she was in a hotel room in Seattle and could see the Space Needle from outside the window. She turned over to the side to see Lara looking at her with a concerned look on her face.
"You had a nightmare didn't you?"
"Yeah. I don't want to talk about it," said Phoenix
"I don't blame you," said Lara
The two of them walked out of the hotel room to join Jonah for breakfast.
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A helicopter that Jonah hired dropped both Lara and Phoenix off at a ridge on Mt. Rainier close to the ice cave entrance. After a bit of climbing they made it inside. As the two of them traverse Phoenix looked around in wonder as this is her first time inside of an ice cave. She stuck close to Lara letting her take the lead with her having much more experience than her. The two of them stopped dead in their tracks when they noticed multiple footprints ahead of theirs which could mean only one thing. They're not alone. Trouble is ahead. Lara readied her bow and arrows while Phoenix readies and loads her pistol. They crouched down and moved slowly toward the sound of three voices. Once they found the source of said voices they hid right behind some ice stalagmites.
"Trinity." Lara whispered
Lara and Phoenix waited for the three men to break off so they could strike. Phoenix took one man out with a headshot using her pistol which has a silencer. Lara also took care of the second man with a headshot.
"Phoenix, stay right there." Lara moves toward one of the dead bodies and starts to set up a trap.
"What are you doing?" asked Phoenix
"An old trick I learned in Siberia, now get back! I don't want you to get caught in the crossfire."
Phoenix and Lara moved right behind another set of stalagmites big enough and far enough away so they wouldn't be seen. The body Lara rigged up started to beep, drawing the attention of the last man who came running toward his fallen comrade. As soon as he rolled his fallen comrade onto his back the trap detonated and a deadly poison cloud came out claiming it's victim.
They moved further into the ice cave stealthily killing any Trinity mercenary they came across. They reached a large room with a gate and four pillars one had two had an image of an eagle, one had an image of a bear, and the last one had an image of a wolf. Above the first eagle pillar there was an image carved into the ice depicting a wolf, above the bear pillar is an image of an eagle carved into the ice, above the last eagle pillar is an image of a bear carved into the ice as well, above the wolf pillar was an image of an eagle also carved into the ice.
"This looks like something from Skyrim," said Phoenix
"We're going to have to match the pillars to the images carved into the ice," said Lara
Phoenix sucked her teeth when she came across a body covered with spears. "This guy definately didn't get the memo."
Lara and Phoenix looked around the room to see where the spears came from and there were holes in the wall where the spears came out. Lara moved the pillar below the image of the wolf changing it from the eagle to the wolf above then did the same to the pillar below the image of the bear changing it to match. Phoenix repeated Lara's actions with the other two pillars. Once they were matched with the correct images they began to glow and the door opened revealing the Fire Bird Feather key made out of fire agate and shaped like a feather like in the description on a pedestal made of ice. Lara and Phoenix went to grab it and Lara put it in her pocket when a voice, one of several that Phoenix hoped never to hear, showed up.
"Hello step-niece."
Lara and Phoenix turned around to see a squad of six Trinity soldiers led by a woman in her early thirties with short blonde hair and brown eyes. It was Daphne Taylor, Ramona's younger sister and Phoenix's step-aunt.
"Phoenix, you know this woman?" asked Lara
"It's my stepmother's sister," said Phoenix grimly and pointed her gun at Daphne
"Put that thing away, is this how you treat your family?" Daphne walked towards them
"After you disappeared Salem and Ross have looked all over Alaska to find you and rumors have surfaced that Croft over here has you with her. It looks like those rumors were true after all. Your father, stepmother, and the man they chose for you to be your husband all want you back," said Daphne
"I'd rather die than go back with them," said Phoenix, still pointing her pistol at her so-called step-aunt.
"Croft we'll let you leave without any incident if you give us the key and let Phoenix come with me, she owes it to her family to be part of Trinity," said Daphne
"Phoenix told me the story of what she went through with your sister and brother-in-law. If you think I'm going to send her back to an abuser, think again! Anyone who mistreats their child like that should not even have any at all! She is staying with me!" Lara yelled
Phoenix glanced at Lara with a hopeful look in her eyes, no one has stood up for her like that before aside from her mother.
"I'm an adult now, I want to have a life of my own. Tell dad, stepmonster, and Ross not to expect any calls or letters from me," said Phoenix
"So be it, I'll just tell them you and Croft died in an avalanche. Men open fire!"
Lara and Phoenix took cover as the men fired shots at them. Lara and Phoenix drew out their rifles and began to shoot back. Lara shot one man in the chest and another one in the neck killing them both. Phoenix shot one man in the head and another one in the leg. Lara walked over to the man that Phoenix shot in the leg and finished him off by snapping his neck. Daphne jumped onto Lara's back and stabbed her in the shoulder. Lara yelled in pain from being stabbed.
"Lara!" yelled Phoenix
Lara was able to throw Daphne off her and ignored the stab wound on her shoulder so she could focus on fighting her. Daphne attempted to stab her again, but Lara dodged the attack and kicked Daphne in the stomach, knocking her to the ground and making her drop the knife on the ground. Lara jumped on top of Daphne and started throwing punches at her. One of the remaining men Had aimed his rifle at Lara's head ready to shoot until Phoenix, who picked up her step-aunt's knife, walked up behind him and slashed his throat. The last man did something ridiculous, he had a rocket launcher which he pointed towards Lara, who Daphne threw off of her. Phoenix jumped on top of him throwing his aim off and the rocket hit the ceiling where there were icicles. Lara picked Daphne up and threw her at a wall. The room is starting to collapse around them.
"Gary you idiot! Look what you've done!" Daphne shouted at the Trinity soldier who fired the rocket. Phoenix dodged the falling debris to get to Lara.
"We gotta get out of here!" exclaimed Phoenix
The two of them broke into a run to escape. Daphne attempted to get up, but the sharp icicles came down on her, killing her. A large debris crushed the remaining Trinity soldier also killing him.
Lara radioed a helicopter to come get them. Lara and Phoenix barely made it out when the helicopter with Jonah in it showed up to get them.
"Both of you jump! Hurry!" yelled Jonah
Phoenix and Lara jumped, and Jonah grabbed them both, pulling them into the helicopter as the entrance to the ice cave had collapsed completely. They flew away from Mt. Rainier. Jonah notices the stab wound and the blood seeping from it.
"We need to get you to a hospital," said Jonah
Author's Note: I kind of got inspired by Skyrim for this part as I had remembered the puzzle where you had to turn a pillar around to match either a snake, eagle or whale.