Chapter 26: Fight of the Valkyrie
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: Soviet Installation/ Copper Ruins, Month: November, Day: Monday 27th, Year: 2000, Time: 06:14 KRAT…
They climbed the stairs and came into the crumbling ruins. Just looking at the rattling icicles made the three shiver as they walked deeper down the path.
"These ruins are incredible…" Lara breathed.
"All right, we're ready!" Called a voice getting them to snap their heads to the voice. "Let it fly."
They all ducked into cover after a large harpoon fired into a pair of boarded up old doors. It anchored to the doors right next to one that was already deeply planted in the old wood.
"Good shot. Looks like that one will hold." Called a voice with an air of approval.
"Okay, let's get that door down." Called another voice.
Leon turned and tapped Kat and Lara's shoulders. They looked to him, and he nodded behind them. They turned and all moved quickly to the crumbling wall. Some patrolling Trinity men were in the next room.
"Looks like Ana was right about the Lost City…" Said one of the two they'd spotted before ducking to the wall and crouching low. "The source has to be down here somewhere…"
Leon spotted a small clay pot. It was no bigger than a small jar. His grabbed it quickly from the top of the wall, the ledge might've once been a window. He pulled his pack off and pulled out some of the things they'd found.
"What are you doing?" Kat asked quietly.
"Making a smoke bomb. Made a few back in high school." Leon whispered back as he crafted the small smoke bomb.
"Why on earth were you making them in school?" Lara asked.
"Two reasons. One was for chemistry class. The other…" He cringed as he sealed the bomb. "I didn't wanna take my history exam. So, I threw it in the girl's bathroom. On the same floor as the exam."
Kat bit her lips as they moved to new cover and Leon made two more bombs as he grabbed up two more clay jars. "You did not!" She whispered disbelieving that Leon would cheat in any way.
"Yeah…" Leon peered over the top of their new cover. "Tell ya more…after we deal with these dicks."
With that Lean tossed the first bomb after adding the activating ingredient. As it sailed through the air, the powders inside mixed and started puffing. When it hit the ground at the feet of the men, it was like Leon had thrown a Batman smoke pellet. A cloud of white smoke puffed out a good five feet in a circle.
The men started coughing as Leon pulled his shirt over his nose and mouth, Kat and Lara following the action. They all pulled knifes and rushed out from their cover. Lara got to the closest one and slit his throat from behind after grabbing his forehead and pulling his head back. Leon kicked the second guy's leg out from under him then stabbed him in his throat as he wheezed on his back on the smoke. Kat was last to kill the three men in the room as she jumped out of the smoke and stabbed into his throat as he tripped backward into the small square pool of water with a loud splash.
After they made sure there weren't any more, Kat turned to Leon. "So, what happened?"
Leon stepped out of the smoke and pulled his shirt collar back down. "Well…I made too much and it kinda wasn't just in the girl's bathroom. I was at my desk, waiting for the exam to be interrupted. I didn't want to take it because I hated the subject and…I hadn't studied." He cringed as they checked the bodies. "Smoke started coming into the classroom. So, the exam was canceled, but we all had to go to the hospital. And we had to take the exam later that week."
"Did anyone ever find out what you did?" Lara asked cautiously, but they all kept their voices low.
"Nope. No one ever did. One of the guys that always got in trouble took the credit." He sighed.
They quieted down and came up to a wall. Their hushed conversation about school day pranks had gone unnoticed by Trinity's men in the next collapsed room. They counted maybe seven men and women.
"Anything on the radio?"
"No. there's tons of rocks and ice in the way."
Leon moved to closer cover. Once he was close enough, he pulled one of his smoke bombs and added the activation agent. He then threw it when he got the cue from Lara and Kat. The smoke bomb hit the ground between two men and sent them into coughing fits.
Lara pulled her rifle and fired at a red flammable barrel. The explosion lit the smoke on fire and killed the two men. No screaming as their bodies burned, it killed them instantly. Kat switched her spear to her rifle and rested it on a bit of collapsed stone. She leaned into her sight and focused on her target.
Leon stood in the break of gunfire from the two other men that he could see. He pulled his handgun and fired off four shots before ducking back down. The yell of pain that was cut off told him he killed at least one of them.
Lara stood up and provided cover for Kat as she got locked in. One bullet was all it took. One shot to the forehead and the man was down. They waited for a moment then realized they'd miscounted. There had only been four.
"Thank god." Leon shook his head. "I thought there was more."
"Same." Kat stood as she popped the spent casing. She looked around and frowned in thought. She was sure she counted right.
With the freedom to relax slightly, they took a moment to look over the machines that had harpooned the great old oak doors. The motors were running on them and had the lines drawn tight. But they weren't pulling the doors open yet. But that was just fine.
"Here." Lara said as she handed Leon a device from her pack. "I bought three of these. One for each of us."
Leon took the rope ascender and looked it over. "What's it do?"
"Think of it as a motorized zipper. We hook it to a rope or cord and push the button. You are pulled along the rope pretty quickly." Kat explained as Lara jumped up onto the line. "See?"
Leon looked as Lara hooked her ascender to her line and pushed a button. With a vibrating whirring sound, the little machine pulled Lara along the line, as it did, she loosely wrapped her legs around the line so her weight wasn't stressing the ascender and line. She reached the other side in seconds before she let go of the button and came to a halt. Then she unhooked the machine and dropped down.
She turned around and waved at Leon and Kat.
"Our turn." Kat said as she got up by the line. "Want me to go first or think you got it?"
Leon nodded. "Yeah. I wanna give this a go." He walked up to the line and grabbed it, him being taller than Kat and Lara meant he didn't have to jump to get onto the line.
"You just have to hook it up to the line and squeeze the button. It's kinda like when we were practicing ziplining and repelling." Kat explained. "Make sure to hook your legs. But don't squeeze them too much, the friction could cut through your pants and then start giving you burns on your legs, you'll also go slower."
Leon nodded as he hooked it to the line. "Got it."
Leon took a breath then looped his legs on the line. He wasn't trusting himself to do it the way Lara had, hooking his boot on the line so it slid over the leather, as the ascender moved him. Once he was sure his feet were hooked on the line, but not tight, he pushed the button. He let out an involuntary yelp at how fast the ascender pulled him along and the vibrations it sent through his arms. As he came to the other side, he let the button go and came to a sharp stop. He hissed before unhooking the assenter. Then he dropped to the ground next to Lara with a huge grin.
"Someone's tried to get through this door before." Lara told him nodding to the door.
He waved to Kat then looked to the door. Sure enough, the siege bar across the door looked cracked, but old. Like breach had been attempted, but failed and it was left like that for years.
"Yeah…and we need to get this open." Leon nodded as he turned at the sound of Kat's ascender.
Kat dropped down and put her ascender away. "I think we can knock some of the trucks off the bridges. If we can do that," She said as she dropped down from the rope. "Then we can get these doors open."
"Who goes for this one?" Lara asked pointing to the line on the right.
"I'll go. One of us stays here to make sure we're getting the right ropes and things." Kat voiced.
Leon sighed. "I'm heaviest. So, I'll stay here."
"I'll go to the left then." Lara said.
With that Kat ran for the rope on the right side of the door. She ran up a bit of wood that had been a cart at one point and jumped from it. She hooked her axe to it and slid down it to the truck on the broken bridge. Kat at the last second dropped from the rope and onto the back bumper of the car. Grabbing it and hissing at the rusted metal that bent under the strain of her weight plus the tight rope to the door.
"You okay?!" Leon called out as the truck rocked for a moment.
"Yep! My lives totally didn't flash before me. Not at all, I so don't remember splitting my knee open on a glass bottle in a lake when was five." Kat sassed trying to make herself calm down from the unexpected movement of the truck.
"Which life was that?" Leon asked thinking it was a good idea to distract Kat from the height.
"Um…" Kat thought about it as she carefully shimmied to the left on the bumper, making the truck rock again. "My second one. The one I've got the blurriest of memories for…at least I think so." She said unsure as she got to the stones of the bridge. "I know it didn't happen this life. I don't have a scar to match."
She pulled herself up onto the bridge. She looked at the truck and saw it looked like some old version of a jeep. Walking to the front she saw a cart of stones and a bit of rope around the handles. She nodded and looked to the other end of the bridge. A winch was there. She walked to another cart and pushed it off the bridge to clear a path then turned to the winch. She pulled an arrow and got it ready as a rope arrow. By the time she was by the winch and had the arrow nocked on her bow.
She drew back, aimed, and loosed. Her arrow flew and sank into the bundle of rope on the cart in front of the grill of the jeep truck. She turned to the winch and secured the other end of her rope to it. She pulled her axe and put its handle into the handle slot. She pushed her axe to turn the winch. The rope pulled the cart full of rocks to her. She then pulled her axe from the winch looked up to Leon.
"Heads up!" She called to give him warning and cut the rope when she saw him move out of the way.
The cart rolled down the bridge slope and rammed into the grill of the truck jeep thing. It hit and sent the it over the edge. The weight of the vehicle and the momentum of it falling, yanked the Harpoon attached to the door and pulled a portion of it apart. Leon ducked flat on his belly as the wood splintered and flew over his head. Kat struggled to stay standing as the vibrations from the ripped door sent some rocks falling as the bridge crumbled more. The ripples on the stonework knocked Kat off balance. She started to fall as the ground fell from under her feet. She grabbed the stonework behind her just in time as Leon shouted for her with worry and fear.
"I'm good!" Kat called to him as she pulled herself up onto the bridge. "Just spooked again!"
Leon sagged with relief. "Thank god! I'll stop scaring you if you stop scaring me, Kitty Kat!"
Kat flushed and laughed. Something about Leon's new nickname for her was just cute. "How about we both agree to try our damnest, yeah?"
He nodded smiling. "Yeah! I think we can do that!" He looked around. "Shit, got a way back over here?"
Kat frowned and looked around. "Not sure! I'll look around!"
"Keep on the radios! Then we're not shouting!" Lara called out.
Kat nodded then turned around and dashed to the gap behind her on the bridge and some crumpled tower or rook. Inside she found a rope that led back into the temple they'd all come from. But a part that she guessed was inaccessible to their group. She jumped onto the rope as she grabbed out her radio.
"I've got a rope that leads back into the temple. I'll find a way back out to you guys." She reported before putting her radio to her belt and putting her ascender to the rope.
"Okay, Lara's working on the other ro- SHIT!" Leon's voice yelled as Kat slid along the line.
Kat heard wood splintering and rock crumbling.
"Sorry! Should've warned you." Lara said into the radio.
"Yeah. Warning would've been nice. I'm good." Leon sighed and sounded like he was getting back up from a fallen position.
By then Kat had zipped through a hole into the temple and detached herself and the ascender. She pulled her glow stick from before and held it aloft as she looked around. "Had me worried for a moment. I take it there is very little of the door left?" She asked into the radio.
"Yeah. How's things look on your side?" Leon asked.
Kat looked down a drop off to the floor below. "Definitely about to lose you guys. It's a tomb."
"Okay, be careful." Lara told her.
"Don't do anything too risky okay?" Leon asked.
"I'll try not to." Kat said before hooking her radio to her belt and jumped down.
"She's there, by the murals!" Shouted a voice that got Kat to spin around. "Open fire!"
Kat ducked down and rolled into cover. Columns detonated near her sending stones and dust flying. Kat hissed as she covered her head from the falling debris. She pulled her handgun and checked the bullets as the Trinity fighters fired on her cover.
One of the men started walking toward Kat. She snarled as her mind switched. She holstered her gun and pulled her axe and Spear. With a war cry, she ran and stabbed her spear with a grunt into the man's guts and slashed her axe at his hands. The man screamed at both pains and dropped his gun as her axe opened his wrists and blood spurted out and over her arms. Kat snarled and let out another loud battle cry and pushed the man backwards toward the other men as a meat shield. The other men stopped firing for a few moments startled by the almost guttural cry that sounded from the blonde woman that was rushing them.
"That's not Croft!" Shouted one of them surprised that they weren't fighting a woman with dual pistols.
"Course it isn't! Look how bright her hair is!" Shouted another as Kat bull rushed forward toward the first one that had spoken, using the man that was still on her spear as her shield against the gunfire.
She let out a laugh as she shoved the dead body onto the man toppling them both to the floor. She put all her weight into the spear, and it pushed through into the other man's chest. He was gurgling as he died when she yanked her spear free before spinning into cover behind a pillar. "You thought I was Lara!?" She called out but once again it wasn't her American accent. "She will have a laugh later!"
With that it was a blur for her as she moved from target to target. Kat would later remember a lot of blood, screaming, and explosions. But after what felt like a few minutes Kat had decimated three waves of men and women. Looking around Kat gave a halfhearted shrug. Several bodies lined the ground, blood pooled, dust settled, and blood dripped from her face, hands and splattered her clothes. Flicking her spear and axe free of blood and brain matter, she holstered her weapons and began searching the bodies before departing from the room. As she was leaving, she heard her radio beep.
"Kat, say something!" Leon's voice rang through, he sounded deeply worried as if he had been calling her name for a while.
Shaking her head to clear it of the battle fog, Kat pulled her radio and pressed the talk button. "I am here sorry…" She voiced still in the Valkyrie tone. "A bit of a skirmish."
"Do you remember everything that happened?" Leon asked, it seemed he was always asking her that question whenever her voice changed or whenever a massive battle fog happened.
"I will. Kat will not." She replied as more of the fog cleared and Kat blinked a few times. Even though at times it was an annoying question, Kat very much appreciated it. As much as the words of her therapist were to remind her of who she was and where she was to get through the PTSD of the past two years, having someone she cared about ask her this question also helped ground her. "I remember most of it." She cringed, her voice returning to its American tone.
"Most of it's better than nothing." Lara said as Kat came to a set of stairs and on the other side of the pit was an ice wall. "Are you hurt at all though? We heard a lot of explosions and yelling."
"They thought I was you, actually." Kat voiced shaking her head as she looked to the stairs. "Got some climbing to do so I won't be able to talk to you while climbing."
"See you on the other side then." Leon voiced.
"See you." She voiced as she put her radio to her belt again.
For a moment she had wanted to say something more but shook her head. No, it wasn't the time, and it certainly wasn't the place. Plus, her mind was still telling her she shouldn't say anything at all about her feelings to Leon. She just couldn't do it. As she started down the stairs trying to be mindful if there were any traps, the age of the steps, and the vibrations from all the grenades going off had taken their toll on them. After four steps down, they began to crumble and crack apart. With a yell, Kat threw herself off from the final step, just as it broke to pieces under her boots, and sank her axe into the ice wall.
A problem arose. The second the axes sank into the ice and took on her weight, it snapped. She let out another panicked yell as she yanked her other axe from her belt and quickly sank it into the ice. In the time it took to do this, she had fallen a good two feet. She looked at what was it left of her first axe. Just a handle and a jagged stump where the point used to be. Looking to the ice wall she saw where the point was embedded two feet above her deep into the ice, its glint being the only thing that caught her eye.
"Well now I definitely won't get a refund." She grumbled to herself, as she planted her feet to the wall and looked to her at ungloved hand. "Yamatai all over again." She muttered under her breath as she began climbing the same way she had done throughout Raccoon City and Yamatai before she learned to use two axes'.
At the top of the wall, Kat hoisted herself up and onto the upper floor. She then hooked her axe to her belt and walked down the stairs. She paused at the bottom and walked to a small box in this tunnel that gave her major Chamber of Secrets vibes. She opened the box and uncovered a cool artifact.
"Oh…" She breathed picking up the broken golden sword, the cross guard was engraved with intricate detail with an Opal in the center where it crossed the blade on either side, the handles were sectioned with aged leather that was crumbling off, showing the hidden tang, and the loop in the hilt. "A golden sword hilt, inlaid with jewels…This belonged to a Byzantine noble." She muttered lifting it and turning it in her hands, squinting at the break of the blade. "Hmm, the blade itself was snapped off at the base…" She hummed, lightly running her fingers on the snap point. "If this happened in battle, I can see why it snapped. The material is meant for show, not for function. More than likely meant for ceremonies. Like a knighting or wedding." She put the blade to her belt.
She turned around and walked to the right of the crumbling brick worked tunnel. At the end she saw it broke apart. The floor was so broken that it was in now just sectioned stages she'd have to jump from one to the next. She hoped they didn't break more under her weight. She backed up and then gave it a running jump.
She landed on the first section in a crouch as it had been a two-foot jump. She slowly stood up and turned slightly to the right. She backed up on the two-foot platform and then dashed into a second jump. She landed on the second one. Landing on it she puffed out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. So far so good. The next jump would take her to solid ground. She backed up and then jumped again.
She landed on the smoother floor and sighed. She looked to the steps up on her left and saw a blocked doorway. She drew her bow and pulled a rope arrow. She drew back and aimed at the doors. With a fallback, the arrow impacted in the center. Kat then put her bow back to her back before gripping the rope with both hands. With a grunt and hiss she pulled the rope. It took a good two pulls to break the wood from the door and allow her through. That made her frown though.
Kat kept thinking back to how strong Lara was. Holding up that gate back in Peru had taken a lot even if she'd had an adrenaline rush. Pulling apart doors, wood and crap took a lot. So, with that in mind…just how strong was her friend? She walked up the steps and into a small hallway and paused.
'Not a single trap? Yeah right.' She thought. She pulled out a fresh glow stick as her first was going out. She cracked it and shook it before holding it up to light her way. Her eyes scanning the ceiling, walls, and floor for traps.
Ten feet from where she'd entered, she saw it. The way the bricks sunk down into the ground by an ice wall to the right. A hidden spike trap. Kat hooked the glowstick to her belt by the broken sword and axe (whole and broken). She backed up and pulled her good axe and bolted at an angle toward the ice wall. On the last step in her run, she jumped and set off the trap as she slammed her axe to the ice. She swung a bit then planted her feet to the ice and looked down at the settling bricks and dust below her.
Several spikes at different angles and lengths were below her. She grimaced. That could have killed her in a very painful way. She froze at that…something about that thought, it rang too true. She shook suddenly as if phantom pains crept over her body from her back to her upper legs and arms. A memory started to surface, but then was gone just as quickly. She hissed as she tightened her hold on her axe and planted her feet's cramps more. After a moment the pain of sharp points passed.
'What was that? Did I die by being impaled before?' She thought. She tried to remember but there was nothing once again.
She sighed then looked up and started climbing, pushing that moment aside. She could think about it later. She climbed up and peered out over the top of the edge. It seemed she was back where she, Leon, and Lara had entered. She could see a few of Trinity's men. She tipped her head. She pulled herself up but stayed as quiet as she could. As much as she wanted a loud battle, she focused her mind to think more than the lust of battle.
The first man she saw as she ducked into cover was a man in armor. She pulled her knife and flipped it into a reverse grip. Kat counted two men and two women. She rushed behind the man in armor and holding a shield. She then raised her arm up and sliced his throat open. He chocked and gurgled before dropping and Kat rushed back behind cover.
Well, that's what Leon and Lara were waiting for. Suddenly an arrow hit the head of one of the men and two flew at one of the women. Only one hit her and cut into her gut. The woman gasped and dropped to her knees before Kat was upon her and slashing her neck. She then fully dropped to the ground next to the guy Lara's arrow had hit.
Kat ducked down as she saw the glint of a sight and missed a bullet. She then drew her Spear and threw it at the last woman of Trinity. It sank into her chest forcing her back off her feet. Kat rushed over and kicked the woman from her spear before giving it a spin and stabbing the woman's head.
Kat then pulled her radio. "Nice shots you two." She congratulated as she whipped her blade off on clothes and yanking her spear free.
"Thanks. I think I'm getting better with a bow." Leon said with a smile as Kat walked over to the rope line.
"A little more practice and you'll be hitting chest shots." Lara said.
"So, Leon's was the gut shot?" Kat asked looking back at the woman she'd slashed the neck of.
"I um…I was aiming for her head." Leon said sounding sheepish.
Kat let out a laugh as she sheathed her blade and flicked her spear clean. "Good gods. I thought I'd get to make that reference!"
"Wait…" Leon said sounding confused. "Reference? Reference to what?"
Kat sighed. "Space Western that'll come out in 2002 called Firefly. You made a reference to it that I was hoping I'd get to make. Beat me too it, Le."
Leon sighed as Lara shook her head. "A Space Western? Like cowboys in space?"
"Yep. Interested?" Kat asked as she walked to a ladder.
"I'd give it a shot. I liked Lone Ranger." He agreed.
"Corse you both like Westerns." Lara snorted.
"Hey, it's an American thing. Americans are required to like at least one western with cowboy/outlaw like elements to be true Americans." Kat joked as she stopped at the ladder. "I'm gonna climb up. Call you guys at the top."
"Okay." Lara said with Leon laughing in the background.
Kat climbed up the ladder after strapping her spear back. At the top she found another ladder and climbed it too. At the second level she found a rope attached to a metal crane. Kat jumped onto the line with her good axe and slid down the rope. At the end of the rope, she detached and grabbed the metal of the crane. Thanks to Lara having already handled the crane's rope attachment, Kat just had to climb up onto the crane arm and find a way to jump over back to the doors. Which were now open and ready for them to leave. She backed up on the arm as it shook, and rocks started falling around her.
"KAT! We need to go! NOW!" Leon yelled as Lara and him ducked and dodged some rocks.
Kat hissed and bolted up the arm. She jumped a gap, making the rusted thing shake and dip down. She yelped at that movement. She stood and ran to the end, pulling on her other-self for the grace and speed she needed as the crane let out a screech of twisting metal when a large bolder had smashed half the arm off. She gave a yell as she jumped off the broken end and tucked herself up to be a smaller, faster projectile. She hit the slight slope of stonework, her feet sliding like she was on a pair of skates, on the thin layer of slick ice.
Leon rushed forward and grabbed Kat's hand, sinking his axe behind him and hissed as Kat's legs slipped over the edge.
"I'm not letting you go. Ever." He hissed looking at Kat as he struggled to pull her back up onto solid ground.
Kat nodded as she grabbed the dry stones and pulled with her free hand. Once on the stones, they both stood and ran after Lara. Ducking the large boulders falling around them that could and would squish them like pancakes if they didn't move fast enough. Two boulders fell and destroyed the path between them and the door. They cared not. They all ran faster and jumped from the partly broken stairs. Landing on the other side of the broken doors. Leon stumbling forward but spinning in time to catch an off balanced Kat. Kat falling and being caught by Leon's arms. Lara fell to her knees before standing up.
The entrance was quickly covered by many rocks and caging the three in the new tunnel.