Overlord Headquarters

Belgrade, Serbia

Alexa sighed to calm her nervousness as she knocked on the door. Vasily stood behind her with his hands laced behind his back as they waited patiently.

"Come in."

Alexa opened the door, letting Vasily inside, before closing the door. She kept her composure as she turned towards the person sitting in the rocking chair in front of her, gazing into the stars.

"My Leader," Alexa spoke softly, "Operation: Aaron failed. Burak and Leyla Uzun are KIA, along with their entire unit, with the exception of two soldiers."

Vasily spoke up, "According to the survivors, Cassie Drake sunk Noah's Ark with all artifacts inside in an avalanche, including Aaron's Rod."

"I see," the Overlord leader replied in a calm voice. "I shouldn't be surprised; Drake is an Omega target, an S class one."

Vasily rubbed the back of his head. "What are we going to do, my Leader?"

"Move on."

"Move on?"

"When a human dies, life goes on without them; that is what we do here in Overlord. Search for evidence of another mythological city or artifact and start digging."

"What about the Uzuns?" Alexa asked.

"What about them?"

"They deserve some kind of memorial; we are humans like you said, my Leader. Thankfully, their son is now in the custody of his maternal aunt, neither are associated with Overlord in any way."

"We'll avenge Burak and Leyla and we'll make sure their son is taken care of in the hands of his aunt."

Alexa smiled. "That is such great news, my Leader. Does that mean we're finally going to kill Cassie Drake?"

"Negative," the Overlord Leader snapped. "No one lays a hand on Drake; she is invaluable to us. If we play our cards right, she can find our power for us. Keeping her alive will benefit Overlord in the not-so-distant future. Leave Drake alone."

Alexa bowed. "Yes, My Leader, but what are we going to do about avenging the Uzuns?"

"How did Drake come about deciding to find Noah's Ark?"

"According to our soldiers, she was given a treasure chest with a piece of Noah's Ark inside. It was the treasure chest of Alexander Goldman."

"And who gave it to her?"

"Operatives 567692 and 567754, also known as Albert Hurt-Walkins and Anthony Worthington respectively. They were curious as to what was inside the box that they made contact with Drake in her civilian life and handed her the box."

The Overlord Leader snared. "Alexa, as my second-in-command, I am ordering you to Code: Black them."

Alexa saluted. "Yes, my Leader. In fact, I already called them up and had a chat with them. I thought they would put up a fight but they accepted the Code: Black before I could even offer it to them."

"Guilt it seems," Vasily interpreted.

"Two fewer traitors to deal with," the leader growled.

"Yes, my Leader. Wouldn't be good for morale to keep them alive. Let's go see them choke on their own vomit, Alexa."

Alexa smiled. "Sure, Vasily." She looked at her leader. "Are you coming, Vale?"

Vale shook their head. "No, I need some more time to my thoughts."

"Yes, my Leader."

Alexa and Vasily bowed before exiting the room, leaving Vale alone inside.

Cassie Drake, Vale thought, a young troublemaker like you shouldn't be allowed to exist in this world but everyone deserves a chance. I wish you could've joined our side, Drake. If you're not with us, you're against us. But don't worry, I'll make sure the entire world is with me. This world will be a better and fair world and I'll show everyone who denied me my future and destiny all those years ago. I'll show every single one of them.

"Not so fast, Derek."

"Sorry, I just can't help myself."

"Hey, look at that: you didn't pass out again."

"I guess I'm building a tolerance."

"Tolerance my ass."

"It is a nice ass."

"Haha, don't be an idiot or I'm dumping you."

"You wouldn't do that, not after we JUST started dating."

"We've been dating four weeks and we're already sleeping in the same bed; I guess we work fast."

"I've waited so long to touch you, Cassie… especially here… here… and here…"

"Why do you gotta do me dirty like that, D-Man."

"Because you drive me to do crazy things, Cassie-Blanca."

"What we're about to do isn't even a quarter crazy of what we've done a few weeks ago."

"Amen to that."

July 2038

The University of Hawaii in Maui

The dean pulled out the next two certificates and spoke into the mic. "These next two rewards are special ones, and Professor Harvey himself asked if he could give out these awards himself and you know what, why not? Ladies and gentlemen, Professor Harvey!"

The crowd cheered as the loveable archaeologist professor walked on stage and took the two awards. He shook hands with the dean before turning to the mic.

"I'm going to try and make this quick because I have to take my father to a bingo game in ten minutes." The crowd chuckled. "But first, let's take a moment of silence for Albert Hurt-Walkins and Anthony Worthington, who died earlier this month of a drug overdose, and let's not forget them." The crowd took a moment of silence.

Once the moment of silence was up, Harvey decided to start his speech. "These two students of mine, who are receiving these awards, have earned these awards. When I first saw these two kids, I was like 'really, this girl can read Polynesian?' What good was I to a student who knew more than me?" The crowd laughed again. "But it wasn't about this girl knowing more than me in an ancient language I'm sure not a lot of people knows about, it's about what she did."

"Two months after class started, we took a trip to Easter Island to give them hands-on experiences in archaeology and anthropology. These two students went out of their way to go maverick and look for a lost city themselves instead of studying; I still give them extra homework to this day." Chuckle. "But, these two students, they had a passion for archeology and they knew what their dream was. They found remains of an ancient lost city on Easter Island and proved that this city in Polynesia mythos was real. These two have the brains, the brawns, and the talent for going to the uncharted. These two students were meant to be archaeologists. When I told the dean for their accomplishments on Easter Island, it was decided that in addition to getting their masters degrees, they would also get there on the same day."

He looked over to the two students. "Graduating with both a Master's Degree and Ph.D. in archaeology, Cassandra Morgan Drake."

Cassie stepped up to the stage, accepted her reward, and turned to the cheering crowd, and bowed to them before walking off.

"Graduating with both a Master's Degree and Ph.D. in archaeology, and a Master's degree in Art history, Derek Williamson Lowell."

Derek stepped up to the stage, accepting his reward, before thrusting his fist into the air like Superman. He takes a long bow before moving over to where Cassie is sitting."

"Congratulations you two," Harvey praised in the mic, "we hope you achieve greatness." He claps. "Don't forget to credit me as to one who taught the legendary Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell."

Cassie laughed. "Don't worry, Harvey, you're in our good book."

After the graduation ceremony finished, the crowd dissipated to find their parents. Derek ran off to look for his parents and he ran in to wrestle them in a bear hug.

"I'm so proud of you," Derek's mother, Erica, spoke. "My little man's graduated from college with his master's and Ph.D." She hugs him again. "I couldn't be more proud of my baby boy."

Derek's father, Richard, patted his son on the top of his skull. "Good work, son. You've exceeded all of our expectations."

"I'm a Lowell," Derek said, "I'm expected to finish what I started." He looks at his mother. "Wasn't that the code you and your comrades came up with?"

Erica nodded. "We did... I guess Tyler and Alec followed that code a little too extreme in becoming mercenaries."

Derek felt his heart pump in his chest. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought up Tyler and Alec."

Erica shook her head. "It's okay."

Derek smiled nervously. "So, I'll be moving out as soon as possible because I have a job at an archaeology institution."

Richard tilted his head. "No more going on any illegal adventures?"

Derek shook his head. "Nope, we're going to go legit and straight; everything is normal with no chase scenes like the kind you see in movies."

Erica had a look of doubt on her face. "I've seen soldiers make a promise like that and break it; I give it eighteen months max."

Derek looked at his mother like he had been shot. "Have more faith in me, mother, I have self-control."

Erica eyes Cassie. "What about your girlfriend?"

Cassie strolled over to where her parents were, hugging them tight around the neck.

"Look at that," Nate said, "someone finally finished school."

"You're the one who should've stayed in school, Dad."

"Well, it's kinda hard when you're on the run."

"I finished school," Elena jumped in, "don't I get credit."

Cassie shrugged. "Ah well, I guess I'll give credit when credit is due. We're the only two blonde females in the family who went to college and graduated. Horray for Legally Blondes."

Her parents chuckled.

Elean asked, "What's next, Cassie Drake?"

"I have a job at an archaeologist institution and I will be traveling the world, looking for remains in a very legit and safer fashion."

Nate laughed. "You could always come work for us at D&F Fortunes."

"Nate, she said she wants to make her own legacy, let her."

"Ya sure?"

Cassie laughed. "I'm sure but if you want to come work at my company, you're more than welcome to." She reaches out and hugs her father. "Thanks, Dad."

He hugs her back. "Anytime, Cassie."

She hugs her mom. "Thank you too."

Elena patted the small of her back. "Have fun out there."

"But not too much fun," Nate reminded, "you're still grounded for finding Noah's Ark without us."

Cassie laughed. "Then you'll have to ground me for other things, Dad, because I'll be making a hell of a lot of discoveries."

She looks over at Derek.

Especially with him.

Two Months Later

Cassie and Derek's New Apartment

It was their first week on the job and Cassie was nervous. Her archeology team had discovered an artifact encased in some kind of ancient jewelry that could only be opened by spelling out certain words in the Polynesian language. As Cassie was the foremost expert on the Polynesia language, it was her job to decode it and free this artifact encased in this box of ancient jewelry.

She took her work home and set up the artifact in her study. She used a scalpel and magnifying glass to help her decipher and carve out words. She wasn't a doctor but she had steady fingers and she was centimeters away from putting the tip of the scalpel to the artifact when she heard the front door open. She remembers that Derek went out to get food and she heard her stomach growling. She decided to fill her stomach before doing this project so she set the artifact aside and joined Derek for lunch.

McDonald's was on the menu for lunch and Derek got her a big mac and large fries. They sat at the kitchen table, consuming their food in silence before Cassie decided to speak up.

"How was your day?" she asked.

"It was good," he said before putting a fry in his mouth. "This going legit stuff is kinda hard I will admit."

Cassie nodded. "Yeah, we have hours to show up to work, have to follow rules, have to do things separately, it's different from our usual way of doing things."

"But it's strictly safe and legit," Derek reminded, "nothing illegal about it and we're getting paid big bucks. No shooting and no death."

"That's right," Cassie answered, "no thugs, no bandits, no Overlord..."

It had been four weeks since Cassie said that word and she knew why: whenever she said that word, it reminded her that Overlord was still out there; Burak and Leyla Uzun were nothing but lieutenants and the true leader of Overlord was still out there.

At least we checked on Burak and Leyla's son, I hope he is living a good life with his aunt.

"Let's not worry about Overlord," Derek said, more to himself than Cassie, "let's just focus on our new job and solving that artifact in your study."

Cassie agreed. "Come on, let's go." She finished her meal before heading to her study, Derek following.

Together, they worked on solving the artifact. Cassie was the expert on the Polynesian language so Derek drew the symbols for her to decipher. After two hours of work, the duo managed to carve an acorn-shaped hole in the artifact. They still had a lot of work to do but they could see what looked like a diamond in the center with ancient writing.

Cassie smiled and praised herself before her eyes suddenly go heavy. She puts a hand to her stomach and throws up in the trash bin.

Derek held her head back. "Are you okay?"

Cassie looked at him with a pale face. "Was there soy sauce on my burger?"

Derek's eyes went wide. "I didn't know you were allergic to soy, why didn't you say something?!"

"Because hamburgers don't usually have soy sauce." She throws up in the bin again. "I definitely ate something I can digest."

"Let's take a break from work and go to the nurse's office."

"Yeah, sounds like a bad idea."

She threw up on his shirt.

It took them ten minutes to get to the nearest emergency room. Derek was carrying Cassie over his shoulders like a soldier carrying a wounded because he was too impatient with Cassie vomiting in the car. He ran her inside and told her that she might be having an allergic reaction. A couple of doctors came and took her away and by then, the vomiting had stopped.

That's when he took the time to remove his vomit-stained shirt.

After a few hours of waiting, Derek was allowed to visit her in the hospital room to see her in a hospital gown.

She looked at him with amusement, the color in her skin coming back.

"Hey, D-Man," she chuckled, "glad to see you up and about."

"I was about to say the same thing about you."

Cassie shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess the roles are reversed; remember when you went to the hospital because you had orchitis?"

Derek looked away. "Never talk about my inflamed testicle in front of me."

"At least it wasn't because of an STD."

Derek blushed heavily. "Please, stop."

She decided to show mercy. "I'm done."

The nurse walked into the room holding a clipboard. "Good news, you weren't having an allergic reaction. We can send you home in thirty minutes as soon as we finish this paperwork."

Cassie put a hand to her chest. "That's a relief but what was causing me to throw up?"

"You're pregnant."

The color drained from Cassie's face.

One Week Later

It took five days but Cassie finished removing the artifact from the booby-trapped jewelry but her first big paycheck wasn't the first thing on her mind. She sat at the kitchen table, tapping her finger against her temple as Derek took his hand in his.

"I can't believe I'm up the spout," she said after taking a deep breath. "I'm having a baby growing in my womb right at this moment. A tiny human being growing and taking half the food I'm eating."

"You need to calm down," Derek urged, "the stress is bad for the baby."

"This is why we shouldn't have rushed things," Cassie said, "we barely got a big job and we're already expecting? I'm going to have to eat two hamburgers from now because I'm eating for two!"

"You know that's a myth."

"And I'm going to get so fat."

"You're not fat, you're pregnant."

"And I'm going to have to start wearing maternity clothes and I won't be able to wear jeans. And I won't be climbing any rock walls or swinging like Spider-Man from a grappling hook."

"It's going to be alright," he reassured. "You're thinking of the negatives, think of the positives."

"You don't understand, Derek," Cassie cried, "this is not the right time to be having a baby." She takes something out of her back pocket, a folded piece of paper, and hands it to him. "Look what I got in the mail yesterday."

Derek took the note and read it.

'Congratulation on the baby, Cassie Drake.

-Overlord.'

Derek gasped. "Maybe it's a hoax."

"You're the only person who knows about me being knocked up. This shouldn't have happened," she continued, "we were supposed to have children after Overlord's defeat, not before."

"Why is this such a big deal?"

"Because Overlord is STILL OUT THERE!" She sank into her chair with tears starting to flow from her eyes. "Overlord is much larger and powerful than we ever imagined and we've barely taken out a fraction, no, more like less than a quarter of a fraction of Overlord. And they know about my pregnancy and my current address?" She puts a hand on her chest to feel it pound with ferocity. "It's not fair, Derek."

Derek sank into his seat, feeling his breath quicken at the thought of his worst enemies knowing about his unborn child. "Even when we try to have a normal life, Overlord has to interfere."

"They called us Omega targets, or at least me," Cassie remembered, "they said that we can be invaluable to them in the future and that's the only reason we're alive. Even if we quit, what's stopping them from kidnapping us and forcing us to look for a lost city? Remember what happened in Romania last year?"

"I remember," Derek said in a low-pitched voice, "I remember."

"Why?" Cassie cried. "Just when we try out for a normal life for once, we're reminded that we're incapable of having a normal life. Not only that, but Overlord and other bad guys will still be looking for lost cities and sooner or later, they're going to strike gold. And they can use our son as a tool against us. If Overlord wins, our son will live in a world ruled by tyranny." She slams her fists on the table. "Damn it." She looks Derek in the eyes. "D-Man, we have to take out Overlord completely before they destroy everything."

Derek put a hand on his forehead and gripped his hair hard. "Two against a global terrorist group? We don't stand a chance. The best we can try to do is keep a low profile."

"I want our son to live in harmony and peace and I want us to have a normal life." She sobbed. "But I guess a normal life isn't meant for us."

Derek stood up and punched a hole in the wall. He pulled his fist out and rubbed a hand over his bloody knuckles. Cassie went to the kitchen to get a paper towel and held it over his wounded hand.

"You could abort," Derek suggested with great reluctance.

She shook her head. "No, I will not abort this child." She put a hand to her stomach. "Our child."

Derek nodded absentmindedly as he stared at the ground. He slid down the wall and sat on the seat of his pants. He made a fist with his bloody knuckles, causing more blood to gush out. "This is Overlord's way of trying to make our life a living hell." He pulled his lips back to grind his teeth. "We won't let them."

Cassie looked at him. "What?"

"Overlord is saying we can't ever live a normal life because of them but I say let's prove them wrong." He grabs her hand. "I say we enjoy our life together."

"What do you mean?"

"We show Overlord that, even if they know about our child and our current, soon to be past, residence, we will not deny ourselves the pleasures of a normal life."

Cassie looked him in the eyes. "We just have a normal life in our abnormal life? Is that what you're saying?" She bit her lower lip when she saw him nod. She took a seat next to him against the wall and stared off into space with a sigh. "I get what you're saying and I agree with you, D-Man."

"You do?"

"My parents, they made a lot of enemies in the world and they managed to walk away and they had me. When I was born, they kept their life a secret. We have a lot of enemies out there but we're having a child on the way." Her hand remained on her stomach. "I want my son to grow up with a normal life but I also don't want Overlord to exist anymore. The way I see it, the only way to protect our son and give him what he deserves, we can't give up our abnormal life."

Derek looked at her with furrowed eyes. "What do you mean?"

"We go back to our treasure hunting lives but we make sure our son is given the most normal life he can ever have. We devote everything in our treasure hunting life to stopping Overlord once and for all. In our civilian life, we are normal Mother Cassie and Father Derek to our son."

Derek smiled warmly. "I like that idea. But our treasure hunting jobs come with risks of death and more to come."

"Then we'll have to make sure that Overlord falls into the traps before us. Either way, in order to have a normal life for our son, we have to see through our abnormal life. We take down Overlord once and for all and make sure they never win."

"It's just going to be the two of us but sooner or later, we'll find the leader of Overlord and kill him... or her."

Cassie looked down at her stomach. "Our son..." she whispered.

"Our son," he repeated.

"Our greatest treasure."

"Our greatest treasure."

"If it's a boy, I'm naming him."

"That's not fair, why do you get to name him?"

"Because I'm the one who's going to be carrying him for nine months."

"That doesn't seem fair, I had inflamed testicles when I was eighteen so I should be able to name our son."

"If it's a girl, then you can name her."

"Why can't I name our son if it's a boy, I have a bunch of boy names."

"I don't want to hear your boy names."

"Please, maybe we have the same names in common."

Cassie sighed. "What names were you thinking of?"

"Henry?"

Cassie looked at him like he shot her dog. "'Henry', we are not naming my son that."

"Why not, 'Henry' sounds so classical. Or we could go with Francis."

Cassie shook her head. "No, not Francis."

"But, I thought Sir Francis Drake was your ancestor?"

"He is but I'm not naming my firstborn after an old man who slept with women in different countries."

"That's not fair, you were named after your grandmother."

"Cause 'Cassandra' sounds nice."

"You like that name because it is your name."

"Why don't we play for it?"

"Like what?"

"Crash Bandicoot?"

"That game is like 90 years old."

"And you still can't top my high score. If you can beat my high score, you can name our son."

"Yeah, get ready to eat some crow, Cassie."

"Crow?" She thought for a second. "I'll have to look up the recipe for that sometime." She laughed.

Cassie Drake, she thought to herself, legendary treasure hunter, archaeologist, and mother.

I think I would be fine with just the mother part.

The End of Chapter 10

A/N: That's it, I'm officially done with Uncharted 4: Noah's Ark. I gotta say, this was quite the emotional journey for me, especially when it had a bittersweet ending but mark my words: This is NOT the last Uncharted story I am writing, Uncharted 5 is the ultimate finale. Don't worry, I promise to update the Tales of Cassie Drake story so you can see what happens after this story. jollyjackclewline, thank you for all your reviews and support, I genuinely appreciate it.

Also, I will be on a hiatus from Fanfiction starting January 1st, 2022. I will be writing my first original fiction on Wattpad. If you're interested, my profile name is The Alpha Gray Wolf on Wattpad. I haven't posted any stories but my first story will be posted on January 5th, 2022. I would appreciate it if you went on there and gave one of my stories a read but that's your choice. Either way, I hope you guys and gals have a good day and a happy new year to you all.

Sic Parvis Magna.