Author's Note: Hey guys, exams are over! Yay! So I should be posting a bit more regularly now. I also want to say thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story. Thanks for the comments and compliments and I hope this next part lives up to your expectations!
Cheeky.
The Hunt for Babylon:
By cheekychaos
Chapter Nine:
Lara let out a whoop of excitement as she exited the wormhole. "Let's do that again!" she said as the adrenaline pumped through her blood.
Daniel let out a laugh as he came up behind her, having exited the wormhole about a second after her. "That's what I've been telling them for years!" Jack replied from where he was surveying the surroundings.
"Telling who what, sir?" Sam asked.
"Jack wants to go on another ride." Daniel said dryly.
Sam opened her mouth to say something, but Jack held up a hand. "Don't say it, Carter." He said. "Don't say it."
Hiding a smile, Sam nodded. "Yes, sir." She replied.
"Alright." Jack said, using a more serious tone. "Teal'c, take point. Croft, Daniel, go find the back door." Jack ordered. "Carter, go with them. Bristow, you're with me."
Lara smiled as she heard the choruses of yeses directed at Jack. If there was one thing the military was good at, it was efficiency. Pity Lara never liked following the rules. "What are you smiling about?" Daniel asked as he walked up.
"Oh, nothing really." Lara replied. "Where did you find the ruins?"
"That way." Daniel said, pointing off towards the south-west. "It's about a twenty minute walk. Why?"
"Well, I thought that it would be the best place to start." Lara replied.
"You really think there's something there?" Daniel asked. "I didn't find anything obvious."
Lara shrugged. "If we can't find anything, we'll just go somewhere else."
The walk past fairly quickly, with Daniel and Lara talking in hushed tones about everything they knew on Babylon and Jack quizzing Sydney about Arvin Sloane and his associates. The sun was nice and warm, so by the time Lara got to the ruins she had removed her jacket and could almost believe she hadn't left Earth – but only almost.
"Here we are." Daniel said as Lara gazed at the ruins.
The ruins had obviously once been a beautiful and breathtaking marble temple, but sadly was now a series of slightly crumbling arches surrounding an elaborate altar. Just by looking at it, however, you could tell it had once been an awesome structure and even now it still held a haunting beauty that made you stop and stare.
"Amazing." Lara said reverently.
"It is, isn't it?" Daniel remarked.
Lara walked forward, heading towards the centre of the ruins where the altar stood. The marble altar was covered in a layer of grime, but she could see the intricate designs that decorated its surface. Lara trailed her fingers over it, searching for a clue to the location of the city of Babylon. "Did you manage to translate any of this?" she asked Daniel.
"Some of it, yeah." Daniel answered.
"What does it say?" she asked.
"From what I can tell: the truth is everything." Daniel said dryly.
Lara laughed. "Oh, goody." She said. "Directions."
Sam and Daniel laughed at her sarcastic tone, just as Jack and Sydney walked up. "What's so funny?" Jack asked.
"The normal cryptic nature of the Ancients." Daniel replied.
"Have you found anything yet?"
"Not yet, sir." Sam answered.
Spotting something, Lara crouched down by the altar and stared at a raised series of markings on the side. Struggling to remember what Daniel had told her about the Ancient language, she stared at them. "They're letters!" she grinned when she worked it out.
"What are letters?" Sam asked curiously.
"These markings." Lara said absently, as Daniel crouched down beside her. "They seem to be the alphabet."
"The alphabet?" Daniel mused. "Why would they put the alphabet on a temple altar?"
"Why would they have a temple, anyway?" Sam asked. "I thought you said they weren't religious?"
"They're not." Daniel replied.
Sydney frowned curiously. "Maybe it's a keypad." She said, staring at the symbols.
"Keypad?" Jack echoed. "You mean, like a lock?"
"That's brilliant!" Lara cried.
"How?" Daniel asked.
Lara turned an excited grin on him and he was distracted briefly by her sparkling brown eyes. "This is the backdoor!" she said.
Daniel blinked. "But the translation said the heart is the key." He thought out loud. "Oh, of course! We have to spell it!"
"Spell what?" Jack asked, confused by the random thoughts of the two archaeologists.
"Heart!" Lara said.
Teal'c came up to the group at that point and had a low conversation with Jack. He sighed and nodded. "So type it in already." He told Lara and Daniel. "I want to go home."
Sharing a look with Daniel, Lara reached out and pressed the symbols Daniel indicated were the right ones. For a second nothing happened and Jack opened his mouth to give another sarcastic comment. But he never got the chance, as at that moment, the ground beneath the group gave way and dropped all six of them down into the darkness.
"Is everyone alright?" Jack called out into the darkness.
"I'm fine, sir." Sam called back.
"As am I." Teal'c answered.
There was a burst of light as Lara lit a flare. "Well, I didn't expect that." She said, sitting up from the dirt she was lying in and rubbing the back of her head.
She looked around and found the others all doing the same thing – except Daniel. "Danny boy?" Jack called. "Anything broken?"
"No." Daniel replied. "But I thought I might just stay here in case the ground decides to drop out from under me again."
Jack chuckled, before walking over and giving him a hand to his feet. "I think we're safe." He said.
Daniel looked at him. "You're just saying that, aren't you?"
"Yep." Jack agreed with a slight grin.
Daniel rolled his eyes, but there was a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he did so. Lara, too, was on her feet and began to walk around the walls of the room the group found themselves in, looking for a way out. Teal'c helped Sam and Sydney to their feet as Sydney looked upwards.
"We can't get back out the way we came in." she remarked.
"Any idea where we are, sir?" Sam asked.
"Don't ask me." Jack answered. "Ask the archaeologists."
"So, any idea where we are Daniel?" Sam asked again.
"Nope." He said, turning to Lara. "You?"
Lara shot him a teasing smile. "Somewhere underground, I think."
"Oh, very funny." Daniel replied.
By now Lara had found a passage leading out of the room and was keeping her eye out for booby traps. This was what she was goo at after all. Sydney stared at Lara, noticing the change the woman went through as she became tenser and more alert. "Is that a way out?" she asked.
"It could be." Lara said. "Probably filled with booby traps though."
"Yeah." Sydney agreed, walking up to look down the passage herself. "I've come across one or two guarding other Rambaldi artefacts, myself."
"Well then," Lara said with an anticipatory grin. "Shall we?"
"Wait for me." Daniel called, walking over.
Lara took a deep breath and started forward. "Here goes." She said.
When nothing happened immediately, Lara motioned for the others to follow her and made sure she kept one eye on the walls. From experience Lara knew that the walls were the most trouble – that's usually where the dart traps, blade traps and squishing usually came from.
Five minutes later, the group trailed into a large room and Lara realised why the passageway hadn't been booby trapped. There wasn't really any need. The room opened up into a large space, that not even Lara's flare could fully illuminate. But that wasn't so much of a problem, because once everyone was through the passage, soft light filled the room.
If you could call it a room. At the end of the small entrance way where they all stood, the room dropped off suddenly into darkness. A little way away there was another patch of floor and another just beyond that. And at the end, Lara could see a small door. With a gate across it. She sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.
Daniel nudged Lara. "There's the door." He said and pointed up.
Above the other door Lara had spotted, she saw another door exactly the same as the other, but this one was on a ledge. Glancing to the side, she saw two ledges that ran upwards, with just enough space for a person to edge along them. But there were gaps in the ledges too. Just beside each of the ledges were two leavers – probably to open the gates. And probably timed, Lara realised.
"There are two doors." Teal'c stated from behind the pair.
"Yes." Lara agreed. "And two paths."
"So, which ones the right one to take?" Jack asked.
Lara shot a look at Daniel, who shrugged. "Both, probably." He said.
"Both?" Jack echoed.
Daniel sighed. "Each way will have its own tests and challenges, but they'll both lead to the city." He said. "The Ancients wouldn't leave two doors otherwise."
"Well, then." Jack said. "We split up and each group takes a door. Carter will take one group, I'll take the other."
"Yes, sir." Sam said.
"Is this where we get to pick teams?" Lara asked, amused.
Jack tried to frown, but the amused look in his eye belied his stern expression. "No, I get to pick the teams." He said. "Because I'm the Colonel."
Lara grinned. "Girls against boys?" she teased again.
Jack resisted the urge to rolls his eyes. "I don't think so." He muttered. "Carter, take Teal'c and Croft. Daniel and Bristow can come with me."
"Yes, sir." Carter said.
"I don't think that's such a good idea." Lara added, this time serious instead of teasing. "See the lower door? It has Ancient written all around it and markings on the wall. The upper door doesn't have that."
"What are you suggesting?" Jack asked her.
"I'm thinking that there are themes to the challenges." She said. "One to do with the mind more than the body and the other to do with the body more than the mind."
Jack rubbed his hands over his face. "Nothing's ever simple, is it?"
Lara smiled wryly. "In my experience? No."
"Alright then." Jack sighed. "Daniel, you'd better go with Carter and Croft and take the lower gate. Teal'c, Bristow and I will take the upper one."
Everyone nodded, before looking nervously out at the path to their respective gates. "Oh, one more thing, Colonel." Lara said. "The levers there, will probably open the gates, but they'll be timed, so you'll have to hurry."
"Great." Jack muttered. "Just what I needed to hear!"
Lara walked over to Daniel and Sam. Sam looked at her. "You've got the most experience with this, what do we do?"
Taking a deep breath, Lara looked out over the first chasm and gauged the distance. The next platform over seemed to be a little lower than this one, so if they each took a running jump they could probably make it. The next platform seemed to be a step or so lower as well, so it might just work.
"Are you any good at jumping?" she asked her companions.
"Jump over that?" Daniel asked.
Lara nodded. "If we run at it, it should be easy enough. Each of the platforms is a little lower than the one before it, so it's easier than it looks."
"You've done this sort of thing before, right?" Daniel asked nervously.
"Yes." Lara said, reassuringly. "I have. You can do it Daniel."
"Okay." He said as he let out a breath. "Let's do this."
"And you, Sam?" Lara asked. "Do you think you can manage it?"
Sam nodded. "If I can survive basic training and years of fighting the Goa'uld, I can do anything." She said.
"Good." Lara said. "Get ready for this, because as soon as I pull that leaver, you'll have to start running and not stop until you get past that gate."
Sam and Daniel nodded, as Lara walked over to where Jack was standing near the leavers. While Lara had been advising her companions of the best route, Jack had been doing the same thing with Teal'c and Sydney. "Any ideas?" he has asked.
"This thing is supposed to be done fast, right?" Sydney had asked.
"Seems to be." Jack replied.
Sydney let out a breath and stared at the narrow ledges. "Great." She said.
"Did Lara Croft not say that this would be more of a physical challenge?" Teal'c asked.
"Yeah." Jack answered. "You got an idea, T?"
"Perhaps." Teal'c answered. "There seem to be bars on the ceiling."
Jack looked up. "Well, I'll be damned." He muttered. "So there are!"
"If we get up onto that first ledge, we should be able to reach them." Sydney said.
"Reckon you can swing them fast enough?" Jack asked her.
Sydney gave him a slightly cocky grin. "I'm a CIA agent." She said. "I can do them as fast as you."
"Great." Jack replied mildly.
Moving to the leavers, he had waited for Lara to approach. "Any idea which leaver is which?" he asked.
"Sorry, no." Lara answered.
"Oh, well." Jack shrugged. "Guess we each pull one on the count of three then."
"Sounds like a plan." Lara agreed.
They each moved to a leaver. "Get ready kids." Jack called out. "On the count of three: one…two…three!"
On three, Lara yanked the leaver and was conscious of Jack doing exactly the same thing at the other leaver. Not bothering to see which gate opened, as she knew both of them would be opening anyway, Lara ran forward and steeled herself for the leap ahead. In front of her, Daniel and Sam had just reached the edge.
Both of them sailed through the air and landed on the opposite platform, with Sam's military training sending her just a little bit further than Daniel. Lara was only a second behind them. She leaped and after a brief sensation of flying through the air, landed heavily on the next platform. She ignored the pain that shot briefly up her legs at the rough landing and sprinted forward.
Reaching the next chasm, Lara leaped again and landed on the third platform. Pushing forward as fast as she could go, Lara leapt again, landing at the same time Sam did. Hmm, practicing does pay off, she reflected briefly, happy that she was just as good as a highly trained military officer. Daniel was only a step behind them.
Sam sprinted forward through the gap where the gate had been and shoved open the door, just as Lara heard an ominous crumbling sound behind her. Whipping around, she caught a glimpse of Daniel toppling backwards as the stones beneath his feet crumbled, before she threw herself forward.
Skidding to the edge, Lara ended up on her stomach half over the edge herself, her hand just catching onto Daniel's wrist. She caught the look of fear in his blue eyes as she yanked him upwards with all his strength. Heaving him up onto the platform, Daniel helping after a shocked moment, Lara shoved him towards the gate – which was beginning to tremble, a sure sign it was about to shut and time had almost run out.
"Go!" Lara yelled to him.
Daniel stumbled forward, just as Sam reached out and yanked him past the doorway. Lara scrambled to her feet and rolled forwards, just getting under the gate as it slammed down. She lay on the ground for a minute, panting, and felt Daniel sink to the ground beside her.
"Thanks." He said.
"No thanks needed." Lara replied. "You okay?"
Daniel paused for a moment. "I think so." He said.
Sitting up, Lara put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure?" she asked, concerned.
"Yeah." Daniel said, more firmly this time. "It's a hell of a rush, isn't it?"
Lara laughed as Sam helped her and Daniel to their feet. "Oh, yeah." She agreed.
Glancing at both of her companions, Sam smiled. "Come on." She said. "It's not over yet, and you'll never guess what we've got to get through next."
At the same time as Lara, Sam and Daniel had been leaping over deep chasms, Jack, Sydney and Teal'c had been hastening along their own path to the second gate. On the count of one, Teal'c had climbed onto the ledge and pulled Sydney up after him. By the count of three he was already swinging his way across the bars on the ceiling and over the chasms below him.
His superior strength made things easy and he made it to the ledge and the door without breaking into much of a sweat. Once he had dropped onto the final ledge, he had turned to look out over the room and watch Sydney and Jack's progress. Despite the fact that she wasn't as strong as Teal'c, Sydney was racing across the bars without much difficulty. She was beginning to sweat a little though and told herself not to look down.
Jack was only a few seconds behind her, so when she suddenly slipped on one of the bars, he was close enough to catch her arm. Quickly, he helped her regain her grip and continue on. She didn't stop to thank him until the pair had dropped to the final ledge and run through the gate, seconds before it slammed down.
"Thanks for that." She told him, panting a little and shaking her arms.
"No problem." Jack told her, before grinning. "You do that as if you've done that before."
"Oh, yeah." Sydney agreed dryly. "Sometime I think that the CIA thinks I'm a monkey or something. Every second mission they tell me to hang from something."
Jack laughed softly, before turning to Teal'c. "So, T, what's next?" he asked.
"I believe, O'Neill," Teal'c replied, "that you should see for yourself."
To Be Continued…