Chapter 13: Sofia

I don't own anything. Resident Evil belongs to Capcom and Tomb Raider belongs to Core Design, Crystal Dynamics, and I think Square Enix. The only thing I own is the changes made to the stories of the Tomb Raider games/comics and Resident Evil games/comics/CG movies, the Government branch S.P.E.L.L., the person that has taken over Kathrine Warren's life, and Rose Warren. This story also will be bloody, violent, and have cursing. It's rated T for Teen.

Country: Russia, State: Siberia, City: Siberian Wilderness, Place: Near Kitezh, Area: Glacial Cavern, Month: November, Day: Sunday 26th, Year: 2000, Time: 05:53 KRAT…

The pair slid down some ice. Their winter clothes newly dry, they weren't in danger of freezing to death. They stood from stumbling at the bottom and looked around. Lara spotted a partly broken box. She walked over getting Kat to look over too. Pushing the lid off, Lara unwrapped a bit of discolored cloth. Inside this cloth was a brooch just a little smaller than her palm. The frame looked to be bronze or deep gold. The image on it appeared to be a chipped/cracked image of a temple. Tiny people were by the steps, three tall red columns were in front of the building, and the temple itself appeared to be a mix of the Tasma Hall and a Greek temple.

"A Byzantine brooch…" Lara breathed tipping her head and letting her frost crusted hair flop off her shoulder. "The enamelwork is beautiful."

Kat nodded. "Looks like a painting. Anything on the back?"

Lara flipped it around and sure enough, there it was. Beneath the needle point of the pin was the image of a man. The image of the Prophet. But you couldn't fully make out the face of the man. It had been scrapped up and cut away somewhat.

"This portrait's been defaced…" Lara said and looked at Kat. "It looks like it was depicting the Prophet."

"They had to hide their faith, like pagans, witches, and other people of faith." Kat sighed sadly. "It's sad." She voiced as Lara wrapped the brooch.

"Yeah. Yet this kind of thing still happens today." She sighed as she stood and put the wrapped piece away.

Country: Russia, State: Siberia, City: Siberian Wilderness, Place: Near Kitezh, Area: Glacial Exit, Month: November, Day: Sunday 26th, Year: 2000, Time: 06:13 KRAT…

Kat shuttered as they surfaced from another water exit. Any more water dips and they'd need to switch out clothes all together. Lara had asked why the water wasn't something that Kat remembered.

"I only remembered there being water later, but I forgot ages ago there was icy water. Hel I forgot about the glacial tunnel." She'd informed. "At least this is not as cold.

They did the same thing as before with getting a fire going and warming their water bottles. Kat also passed Lara one of the chocolates covered fruit bars she had packed. Once they were dry and dressed again, Lara got Kat's attention. She held up another tube that held scrolls. They opened it and found yet another scroll from the Trinity hunter.

The madman continues on. I do not know what drives him.

We pass through frozen mountains at the edge of the world. His people are dying. Every day I pass graves or bodies left along the faint trail. I have grown thin and hard, but I am close now. My horse is dead, the mare that had been with me since the campaigns against the Bulgars. I butchered her and carry the meat on my back. But I am so close.

I can hear them singing just over the ridge. A joyous sound on the wind. The Prophet will be dead within the week, and I will return to the Order of Trinity triumphant. Just one more day, and I will be upon him.

"The Tracker found his quarry deep in the northern mountains..." Lara frowned. "He's persistent."

"Trinity normally is. I can see why they found like-minded individuals in Umbrella." Kat voiced as she put the scroll in her pack.

"When are they going down again?" Lara asked.

"2003. They've got three more years and they've got a lot of people that'll be ready to testify." Kat smiled. "Apparently I'm on the witness list along with Michel."

"Right, they found your father a few months back." Lara nodded as they turned and started some miner rock climbing.

"Yeah. I can't really sue him for anything, but I have had his grandparent rights terminated. He can't see Rose, Sherry, or any children I have in the future." Kat informed darkly.

"Kat, I know what he did was horrible, but shouldn't you give him a chance to explain himself?" Lara asked as they stood on a snowy rock platform.

Kat stilled as Lara lead the way across a rock beam. It looked stable, but Kat wasn't thinking about it. It was Lara's question she was thinking about.

"I don't need an explanation. He abandoned me and my daughters in that city. He knew what was there. He made his choice. He made his feelings very clear." She stated as she followed Lara across.

"Kat, other than Rose, your father is the only blood relation you have left." Lara pointed out.

"Family is more than just blood. I've crafted a family away from him with the Redfield siblings, you, Leon…" Kat took a breath through her nose. "I don't need him in my life at all. Rose and Sherry don't need someone so cowardly like him. A real father would've stayed. A real father would've helped us. But he didn't. And let's not even start on the bribes he took from Umbrella for…" She swallowed and looked to the exit of the tunnels. "What he did was damaging too more than just me. As fair as I'm concerned, he should be in prison after the trials."

"Wow." Lara sighed as they walked out of the tunnel and into the sunlight and Mongolian runes near the Soviet Installation. "You…you don't want to kill him? Or do you?"

Kat shook her head. "As much as I hate him, I don't think I could actually kill him unless my life or those I love depended on it."

They walked through some deep snow, before pausing. Ten feet away was a fresh campsite set up. A fire was going with some cleared away snow around it. Someone had clearly been in the area.

"Do you think Leon and Jonah are okay?" Kat whispered. "I mean Leon can handle himself, but he wasn't in this game. Or this universe originally."

Lara smiled a bit. "I'm sure both are safe…even if Jonah didn't go back to the other camp." Lara then looked to Kat as they got to shallower snow closer to the fire.

An arrow sank into the snow, inches from cutting into Lara's right boot. Lara pulled her makeshift bow and nocked and arrow quickly as Kat spun around with her liberated rifle. Lara spun with her drawing her bow back. Both aiming at a ginger haired woman with braids, clothing that made her look like a renaissance player but more functional and accurate for protection and warmth. She stood tall upon a rock, new arrow nocked and drawn back on her bow. Her eyes were narrowed darkly as she kept her aim on the two women before her. Kat was suddenly struck with the mental image of a medieval Black Widow looking at her. But she couldn't for the life of her remember this woman's name. 'S' something?

No one moved for a moment. The cold quiet air chilled the three to the bone. The colors from the rising sun cast an orangey gold tinge, making Kat's hair look ginger, the woman's hair like fire, and Lara's like chocolate. Kat felt her hair rise on end, her body wanting a fight. The woman looked so tightly wound that she was ready to kill anyone that stood in her way or posed a threat to her. Lara looked from one to the other before she lessened her hold and lowered her bow.

"I'm not your enemy." Lara said calmly.

"That remains to be seen." The woman said with a light northern Siberian accent but there was a hint of English there. She then looked to Kat, who still had her rifle raised, finger not on the trigger. "You killed those men back there." She pointed out.

"We killed them to survive." Kat said, her Valkyrie voice coming back making Lara swallow nervously. "I suspect it's the same case for you?"

The woman seemed to see something in the pair. Her eyes widening for a bit before relaxing back to a hardened expression. She lowered her bow as Kat did the same for her rifle, an unspoken truce.

Lara sighed with relief, sending visible puffs into the air. "How long have they been here?" She asked.

"Days, at most." The woman informed looking at the rusted refurbished Soviet Installation. "The invaders took many of my people prisoner. You should leave this place before it's too late." She advised and warned.

"I can't do that." Lara shook her head. "I came here for something important."

The woman glared with a battle-hardened gaze. She lifted her bow and drew back again. "So did they."

"It's not for the same reasons." Kat stated arm twitching to lift the rifle again. "We've also got missing friends. We can't leave without them."

Lara felt a small smile at Kat's thinking.

The woman thought for a moment. Then glared at them both. "If I see either of you two again, I'll put an arrow in your throats." She warned them.

Lara's smile vanished. "The three of us are on the same side. I hope I can prove that to you."

An explosion from behind them made Kat and Lara jolt and spin around. One of the buildings had a large gout of fire erupting from it. As the fire died down to a smoldering blanket Lara let out a gasp.

"What's going on down there?" Lara asked before turning around. "Who—" But her eyes widened, the woman was gone.

No trace of her was left behind, no prints in the snow. Lara sighed and looked to Kat. She saw that Kat was watching the installation. She looked too. The fire was dying down and seemed like whatever threat had caused it was either taken care of or had escaped.

"Where did she go and what was that?" Lara asked Kat as they walked to the fire to get warm, dry, check weapons and ammo, and add to their journal tapes.

"She went to help her people. And I don't remember what that explosion was." Kat told her as they both sat down.

After Lara finished with her weapon's checks, she pulled her tape recorder. She put a new blank tape in and hit record.

"So, there are people who live out here...and they appear to have been here for a very long time... living in isolation for decades, maybe even centuries. I noticed elements of her dress, small adornments that would not have been out of place in the Byzantine Empire. Could they possibly be descendants of the Prophet's people? How much do they know about the Lost City or the Divine Source?

It's clear Trinity will do anything to find out. I'm afraid that whoever they are, they're in grave danger. Let's hope the old proverb about the enemy of my enemy remains true."

Lara hit the stop and took the tape out. She labeled it then put it away in a side pouch with her first tape. She pulled out another blank tape, loaded it into her recorder and held it out to Kat.

"Could I…record this one alone?" Kat asked as she took the recorder.

Lara nodded. "I'll look around for a path." She said as she stood up and walked away.

Kat waited then took a breath before hitting the record button.

"My memories are a bit fuzzy. But I know what I know in my gut. Ana is a lying, manipulative, ill, double-crossing bitch. I've tried to warn Lara about her betrayal. But she doesn't believe me. Sighting my memory issues as what makes me wrong. I really never want to be right. I know I am though.

As for Leon, still nothing. I don't know if he's with Jonah or not. I hope so. Then he's out of most dangers. But if he's not…gods watch over him. We've faced Black Umbrella together; we've had Umbrella assholes try and kill us several times in the last two and half years. I know his skills and they've grown since we first met, I know he can handle himself, but gods, I'm worried.

But here we all are. In a part of the timeline, I have the most blindness in due to focusing on RE more than TR. Wish I'd written every fictional world I knew of down at three, maybe I wouldn't be so blind to Tomb Raider now."

She hit stop and closed her eyes a moment. She couldn't think about her feelings. They didn't matter right then. What mattered was being the rock for everyone right then. What mattered was staying alive like always. She labeled the tape and pocketed it before making the final checks of her gear. She then stood and walked over to Lara who stood by a cable.

Lara looked to Kat as she handed her recorder back. "You good?"

Kat nodded. "It was just personal and…" She sighed. "You'd get mad again and we need clear heads for this."

Lara nodded with a frown but put her recorder away. "Ready?"

"Yep." Kat said as they both pulled their axes.

Lara jumped onto the cable first and was followed by Kat. Both riding down the lines down to the ground. They dropped to the ground and looked around, getting quiet ranged weapons out. Walking down the dirt path, they came to a body. He was slumped on a crate near some sort of rusted structure. Lara checked for a pulse as Kat found a tape.

"Nothing we can do for him." Lara sighed. "Is that a tape?"

"Yeah." Kat looked around. "Wanna play it?"

Lara nodded as she got her recorder out. She took the tape from Kat and popped it in. She then hit the play button.

"First day in Siberia and it happens. Two years in Afghanistan, and another in Indonesia, and nothing. But one day out here on the ice, and - pop - I get a kill. Watched the man's eyes go glassy as he begged me for something. Not Russian. No clue.

I waited with him, and watched. One minute he was there, the next, nothing...just meat. Got sick on the snow, all mixed in with the kid's blood. But he's just meat now. And I'm alive.

Konstantin keeps telling us we're out here for a special reason, tells us we're doing God's work. I'm starting to see that now."

"God. He's a psychopath. If these are the kind of people Trinity hires..." Lara said slowly as she popped the tape back out.

"Again, I can see how Umbrella and Trinity get along so well." Kat gritted. "This is the norm."

Lara opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted.

"All units, just got word." A man's voice called from nearby, making the pair dash into cover in some bushes. "Konstantin is on his way down from the prison."

They looked at each other and got back into crouches before moving to the next bush closer to the source of the man's voice.

"We need to get this mess in order before he arrives."

Peering around the corner to the left of the path, they found him. His back was to them and he gripped his radio in his hand tightly.

"Hey…" He began sounding confused with all the static.

Kat tucked and rolled to the next bush to the guy's right. She pulled her spear from her back as she came into the bush and got to her feet. She turned and lifted her spear in a stabbing position.

"Can anyone hear me?" He asked. "Goddamn it, we gotta get comms back up."

Kat took two long strides up behind the man. She thrust her spear into the back of his neck with a quick movement. He gurgled as the point cracked through his spinal cord and came out the front of his throat. He fell limp, the radio slipping from his fingers. Kat looped an arm around his upper body and pulled him into the bush as he continued to choke on his blood that steamed a bit in the cold air.

Lara peered out of her bushes as Kat yanked her spear from the body. They both waited then moved to some rusted barrels. They heard footfalls again. Two pairs of winter boots on slushy ground. They peered over the top to see the two before ducking back down.

"Never seen anything like that." Said one of them. "Crazy son of a bitch, rushing three armed men with an axe…" He said making Kat smile a little.

"I don't know how they managed to take one of them alive." The other said as Lara picked up a bottle from the snow and nodded to Kat.

Kat looked and nodded two, switching her spear for her bow and an arrow.

"Who the hell are these people?" Asked the other as Lara stood a bit.

She threw the bottle and it shattered on a tree behind the small metal and wooden shed behind the two men. The two men jolted and spun around to the sound of shattering glass. Kat and Lara both stood up, bows drown with arrows ready. They ignored what the two men said as they loosed their arrows.

Kat's hit the right man's neck, choking him as he dropped what he was holding. Lara's was a clean headshot. Both men dropped as soon at the damage was done. Kat's living a little longer than Lara's. They walked out of cover and walked to the shed they realized was once a cargo box. They climbed up another cargo container and ducked down at the sound of a helicopter.

Country: Russia, State: Siberia, City: Siberian Wilderness, Place: Near Kitezh, Area: Outside Soviet Installation, Month: November, Day: Sunday 26th, Year: 2000, Time: 06:14 KRAT…

Leon ducked behind a tree for some cover as more shots rang out. The wood around him didn't splinter, meaning they didn't see what tree he ducked behind. He reached into the neck of his jacket and pulled up the neck of his shirt to cover his mouth so he could get some quick breaths and they would not see the puffs of air in the cold. He looked to his left when he heard footsteps in the snow. The slow crunching of the thin ice that rested on the top layer.

He needed to get more distance, give Jonah a bigger lead. Slowly he took a step forward but winced as his steps made the same crunching sound. He shuffled his foot a bit then stepped with his other foot but made kind of the double step. He took his other foot and then made a light digging in the snow with the toe of his boot. Like a deer digging for grass. He held still a heartbeat and then took a few normal steps, then moved around a tree in a shuffle movement. He stopped and held still listening for footsteps following him. He didn't hear anything.

'Damn. They are not falling for it.' He could see a stand of trees off to his right.

He thought he could make a run for them, but he wanted to get a shot off at least. Take out one of them. Slowly he leaned around the tree he was up against, so he could aim quickly.

"He is off to the right some place." Said a soft male voice.

Leon tried not to start at how close the voice was. He leaned over just a bit more and saw the man was about 30 feet from the tree he was behind. If he ducked back, he would see the movement. So, he lifted his gun a few inches and fired. He saw the man's head snap back and his body fell backward into the snow. A second later, another shot rang out and struck the tree just in front of his nose. A few slivers of wood flew into his face, one embedding into his cheek right under his eye.

"I got him!" A voice called out.

Leon turned and sprinted to the stand of trees. Several shots rang out and he felt a hot sharp sting slice into his left calf muscle. He stumbled for a few steps but then started running as he got under the trees and the snow was not as deep. He turned a hard right and risked a quick glance over his shoulder. He could see two figures racing after him.

He came to another clearing and looking around he saw a snow-covered log that had fallen against a large boulder. The roots of the old tree reaching up like hands. He had the option of sliding into the hollow of the trunk and the rock or rounding the roots to hide in shadows they created. He went for the roots since sliding into the hollow would leave an obvious trail. In the roots of the tree, he held very still as he heard the crunching foot falls of the two men running into the clearing.

One stopped and Leon heard the man lift and cock his rifle. Several gunshots rang out, but nothing hit where he was hiding.

"Go check under the log. I think I got him." One male voice said.

Leon heard the footfalls of one of the figures as they slowly approached the gap between the log and the rock. Leon could see light shine to his left as they looked under the log.

"Nothing. No blood." Came a woman's voice.

Leon didn't know why he was shocked, but he was at hearing her voice. Maybe it was the fact that, up until then, all of Trinity's people had been men.

"Damn!" Said the male voice. "He must have gone to the left. Let's go."

"Wait, the roots." Said the woman.

"No, that is too small. Hurry!"

Leon heard one set of footsteps take off running. But the other set was quiet. He waited. He knew they were waiting for him to move. So, he closed his eyes and took slow even breaths. He could wait a long time. It seemed like four minutes passed then he heard a soft curse and the footsteps took off after the other pair. He still didn't move. He let another five minutes pass before he decided that it was safe to go. As he moved out of the cover, he finally noticed the sting and ache in his calf. Looking down in the little light he had, he could see that he had been grazed by a bullet.

'Shit. I need to take care of that.' He would do it later when he was safe. Right now, he needed to circle back around and try to pick up Jonah's tail.