The cell is bigger than Jacob remembers from the last time he was locked in here. But the time moves on the same slow cycle. He uses it to his advantage the best he can by trying to sort out a plan on how not to blow his cover, how to get them out of here, and destroy the progress Trinity has made. It's fortunate that their infiltration to the Gulag has made enough dent so that the soldiers are occupied by counting the casualties and putting out the fires and leave him be for the time being. The aches from the rifle stock that they hit against his back and the punch to his stomach throb steadily.
The minutes tick on. After twenty-five minutes or so, he can hear a faint echo of Lara's screaming and he stands up to walk by the bars, clenching his fingers loosely around them before letting go and pacing around the cell.
Lara's torture, no matter how unfortunate, at least gives him hope that Trinity hasn't gotten anything out of her yet. And based on the cool-headedness with which Lara had waited for him to torture her over three weeks ago, he hopes that she won't break down now.
It doesn't take long after that before he hears steps from the hallway, thus he takes his spot on the age-old bed. He has learned long ago that the best way to give yourself legroom is to be as compliant as possible until you get the chance to break free. So, when the prison door opens, he lets the two soldiers slap him in cuffs without resistance.
He is marched through a series of corridors into a larger room where three people are waiting for him.
Jacob observes as discreetly as possible how Lara is sitting on a metal chair with her hands behind her back. Blood is seeping from her right side through the tattered blue Henley and there is a vivid red mark on her face which usually tells of a nearly bone-chattering slap.
They don't acknowledge each other but there is hardness in Lara's eyes that indicates how much has happened since their last contact. However, instead of breaking her, the interrogation has only added more fuel to Lara; a fire that is burning concealed but undoubtedly strong.
"Should we try again?" The woman, Ana, asks as Jacob is sat on his own chair in front of Lara.
Jacob barely manages to catch Ana's nod before Konstantin hits a blade to his side and he doubles over what he can. It's not the most effective way of torture but most likely only to show them that Trinity is serious. He can keep his voice as a mere grunt with his pain tolerance but it does hurt. His attention, however, like Ana's, is at Lara's reaction.
The worry is evident on her face and she cannot hide her swallow. But more than that, he can read the shock over the realization that he can be injured, bleed, and feel pain. He prays in his mind that Lara will still trust his immortality and not tell these people anything.
"Again," Ana orders, and he is rewarded with a longer, unhurried slash through his side, this time not so much to injure but to cause pain in the sensitive nerve-endings.
He breaths heavily as Ana weighs Lara's silence. "She knows something."
"You think I'd still be here, had I found the Source?" Lara retorts back with more attitude than many would muster without sounding like they'd be covering their fear.
"I don't know, Lara," Ana contemplates and turns to look at Jacob. He doesn't meet her gaze head-on and keeps a slightly fearful cover not to arouse suspicion; and it seems to work as Ana turns back to Lara. "Why else would you work with these people? Don't tell me you've developed an inclination towards calling people to your cause. We both know how limited your social circles are."
Jacob can read that Ana is putting Lara in a very difficult spot on how to justify their relationship without painting him as someone she is close to while not making him an even bigger target by indicating that he knows something of value.
Lara opts to keep her mouth shut with a defiant raise of brows.
"Why are you so dedicated to making life difficult for yourself? I already said, another Croft doesn't have to die for this, Lara. I'm just trying to help you."
"You've got a very funny way of showing that," Lara argues.
Ana is taken over by a coughing fit and Lara watches with rapt interest as Ana signals Konstantin's worried hand down.
"The cigarettes were new," Lara realizes leaning forward what she can, "You broke into the Manor."
"I didn't break in. I still had my key from Richard."
"Why? To trash through his notes like you screwed my family over?
Jacob hopes that Lara isn't making the show to take the attention away from him because she must know to expect the second harsh slap which is followed by a cracking sound at her already bruised cheekbone. Or maybe, Lara's description of Konstantin as emotion-driven and reasonable only to an extent was mainly self-projection.
"It was my home, too!" Ana states back. "You desperately seek for a purpose – we can offer that. Recourses. A chance to continue on your father's work. Think about it."
"After seeing how you people operate?" Lara exclaims and this time even dares to look at Jacob under the cover of using his injuries as an example.
"Is that a no?"
"That's a no fucking way!"
Ana chuckles sadly at her words, "And how are you different, exactly? You do know, Trinity cleaned after Yamatai?"
Jacob watches from the corner of his eye that no, Lara hasn't known but she doesn't let the implication affect her and even tries to shrug what her position permits.
"How many, Lara? From what I've heard, a couple of dozen isn't enough. A hundred? I doubt the others would have managed to act as cold-blooded," and when Lara doesn't reply other than a brief aversion of her gaze, "We could use someone like you."
The wounds throb at Jacob's side but he is feeling reassured in front of Lara's steadfastness. However, what he can hear, is Ana's steady notes to get Lara on her side: and not simply to tell about the Source but to join her forces. Moreover, he is surprised by the amount of bloodshed Lara has managed to wield in her past but he has to push the thought aside for later contemplation. Two days ago, he would have thought that Lara had run into a few unlucky – even if traumatic – situations on the Island but her actions today and the attitude in front of the inquisition paint a uniform and much more perturbing picture with Ana's words.
"Go to hell, Ana," Lara answers with underlined tiredness.
"Use the stairs for once, Lara. Richard–"
"Just shut up about my father, you cunt!"
Before either one of them has the time to react in any way, Konstantin has kicked the air out of Lara's lungs making her fall backward on the floor. There is a brief groan of pain from her, and Jacob senses that the initial kick and the way her bound hands got pinned under her weight must not have been a pleasant experience. He also doesn't miss the measuring gaze Ana gives to Konstantin. Lara manages to roll onto her side, though, curling a little on herself and coughs to clear her lungs.
Whether it's Lara's intractability or Konstantin's lack of patience, the Trinity leader doesn't waste any more time to take out his gun and point it at Jacob in a way that Lara can see from her curled position. "One chance," Konstantin growls.
"I don't know where the Divine Source is," Lara forces through gritted teeth and coughs. And under the inquisition, Jacob cannot do much to assure her to stick to the story. He doesn't look forward to dying, but he is more worried that they'll turn on Lara next. Maybe Ana will provide Lara with the time she'll need to get out of the situation and form a new plan.
He manages to hear the safety being flicked off before it's followed immediately by Lara's order to stop.
Ana raises one hand and both eyebrows to wait for a continuation.
Jacob can only wrangle his hands behind his back because there is no way he can get the message to Lara without Ana reading it from Lara's eyes.
"There's a map, Atlas," Lara divulges her voice strained and slow, "I know where the clue to it is, but I haven't been able to decipher it yet."
"A map?" Ana confirms and glances at Jacob who hopes that his trepidation at what Lara will say will be read in their favor.
"–Of where the Source should be. I can take you to it."
He has no idea what Lara is planning and he would prefer Trinity not to have any confirmation that the Source could be even in the vicinity, but what is done is done, and at least Lara opted not to reveal Kitezh directly.
"Is it far?"
"Day or two."
Jacob follows with obscured interest at how Konstantin turns to Ana at the decision. "Take them to the cells. We'll wait for the next haul and go tomorrow. Give them something to stop the blood. We need both of them alive to make Lara comply."
He suspects that there is relief in the way Lara's shoulders sag at the news, even if she tries to cover it as defeat.
They are walked back to the cellblock with armed soldiers following their wake. They are luckily left alone after that but before Konstantin manages to get out of the earshot, Lara has already prized herself on her knees and shouts after him at the top of her lungs, "Bastard!"
Jacob isn't sure how she can still have enough energy left in her, but youth and anger are a volatile combination. The soldiers had thrown them dirty rags to cease the bleeding but only Jacob's hands were freed with the physical fight Lara had maintained.
"Are you okay?" he asks and turns to look at the woman in question while gauging his side with his hand. The wounds aren't salutary but he will have to keep them for now not to create suspicion.
"Fine, you?" Lara asks back and her worry must be genuine based on how she stops for a moment to regard him. He can hear the questions she harbors about his immortality in her tone.
"I will be," he states lifelessly. Moreover, he has to hold back a sigh, – "So, do you have a plan for tomorrow?"
"I wasn't planning on being here tomorrow," Lara simply answers back and he has to blink his surprise away at how Lara has managed to maneuver her bound hands to her front and picks them free from the shackles.
"I see."
Not bothering with his reaction, Lara digs a silver-colored roll from her pocket and raises her shirt to tape her wounds together.
"Lara…"
"Later," she replies curtly and dismisses his offer for help, shunning away from the conversation.
He can spot a collection of older scars on her stomach but the longer burn mark on her left side keeps his attention.
"I'm sorry," she confesses after finishing patching her side together, throwing the tape to him with a questioning look, and beginning to eye her cell. "For giving them anything, and I didn't..." she continues leaving her hesitancy to hang in the air. He gets the impression that she is avoiding his gaze and masks it by going to study the walls.
He manages a nod that he isn't one-hundred percent sure of, but it's lost anyway at Lara's diverted attention. He is stunned again maybe more than he should be at this point when Lara moves to rip the old radiator pipe out of the wall like a madwoman. Moreover, he can guess that the fall she suffers as a result doesn't do anything positive to her side – patched or not.
"They'll hear that."
Lara barely gives him a glance before arming herself with the pipe and planting herself in front of the end-wall. "Good. We don't have to go as far to get weapons."
He can only watch as Lara beats her way through the wall and comes back a minute later with a crowbar. Then she wrenches the topmost grille off from on top of the bars. The skin on her face is now almost dark red and swelling from the slap and blood trickles from her mouth where she has perforated her cheek or tongue in the contact.
She goes straight to the cabinet and tinkers her way to the keys and two walky-talkies.
He waits patiently as she opens his cell and gives him the other radio, his mind working overtime to estimate the situation – and her.
"Lara?"
Her eyes are more guarded and harder than he has ever seen but it only highlights the hurt and uncertainty in them. She doesn't actively indicate that she heard him but answers in a detached voice that is as beaten as their appearances, "Escape to the mountains. Go and warn your people."
"And what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to clear the area," she states, "Your people need weapons."
He isn't fully up to date with the situation but he is certain that he doesn't want to leave an emotionally unstable twenty-something-year-old to get herself killed.
Based on what he has learned and the fire in her eyes, he has no way to get her to abandon her crusade, so he offers a compromise with a very little waver, "You are not alone in this."
There is a wry smile on her face, "I prefer working alone."
He has his reservations if she truly understands that she is confronting an army on her own, but then again, maybe she does – and a new type of respect and fear seed in the pit of his stomach. "Lara, my people have fought against Trinity for over a millennium. This is not just your war," he reprimands earning a humorless chuckle.
"Go."
It's by her order, he realizes that something useful has transpired over their time together. While clearly betrayed and hurt – maybe even ashamed of her previous steadfastness –, his survival is still in Lara's interests, which means, that in some way, she still harbors at least a speck of trust towards him.
"We clear the area and then go back to the village to warn them," he states and then softens his proposition, "I'll stay out of your way."
Control, independence, and logic.
Lara lets out a sigh but gives him a brief introduction on the modern piece of technology on his hand and checks that he understood.
"Choice of weapon?"
"Knife."
She nods acceptingly at that, "See if you can spot my bow, I'd like to get it back from these people."
And before he has even managed to move his hand to clip the radio to his belt, Lara has already lifted the crowbar and become part of the weapon.
True to her word, it takes them very little time before two soldiers lie dead on the upper floor and Lara has stolen their rifles. After that, he does his best to help, but, for most of the time, it is to neutralize secondary guards and stay out of the way when Lara fights with vengeance he hasn't seen in recent memory. He doesn't know what actually happened on that island that helped her shape herself into this. The desperation and worry that drove her on their way in, have morphed into something much harder and certain after their confrontation with Ana and Konstantin.
But it's not like his own hands are clean.
The destruction she causes all the way to the fires and the destroyed communication towers garners even the attention from the new scouts in the area. They nod at Jacob when he spots them and understand his message to meet them by the old sawmill. In line with the original plan, Lara collects as much ammo and weapons as they can carry. She even curses under her breath that the last helicopter left just as they escaped back outside.
He wants to order her to rest and that they'd take cover in one of the caves nearby so that he could heal her wounds but Lara marches on with unrelenting stubbornness.
"We need to get to the hangars. – If they have helicopters, they must have brought missiles and something powerful enough to work as an AA-gun. They'll be our only way to shoot the helicopters down."
Amidst their assault, he follows Lara's actions closely. Her attacks are effective but crude and he can spot how her formations and angles could be planned better. She is clearly a lone wolf who works with will and luck. How she can make her limited experience work even when injured speaks wonders though. He cannot help but think about how she could become exceptional with guidance and experience.
Lara pays no heed to the marks on her face and the wounds on her side as she jumps between the ammunition crates and commands his warriors on what to prioritize from the loot. He pipes in to order them to contact their general from behind the enemy lines and send in more men to carry the gear to the Valley.
When they finally escape the Gulag up onto the mountain cave with more bodies left in their wake, Lara has to be utterly exhausted. He only catches signs of it in the depth of her breaths but she doesn't complain once. His own wounds throb evenly as he channels the power of the Source to advance the healing with a day or two.
Lara slumps down on the furs on the floor near the stove. He lowers the weapon he carried on his back onto the plank flooring and crouches next to her.
"No. They are not an immediate concern," she murmurs to him and turns to look at him. Her cheek is sporting an angry bruise now but he trusts her assessment. She is not his typical patient: usually, people are thankful and awed by the God's grace that lets him heal, and maybe Lara is too based on her reaction back in the Gulag, but outwardly it seems like an unnecessary evil to her.
Understanding that he is of no help before she lets him in, Jacob leaves to collect firewood and receive a rabbit from the scout. When he comes back about twenty minutes later, Lara has not moved from her spot on the floor. Her breath heaves slightly and she only raises her head to check that it was he who entered. He dismisses her offer to help and watches Lara sit up and lean her head on her arms. He wonders if her lethargy is from her wounds or the emotional toll but he adheres to Lara's decision and leaves her room to sort the last two days' events in her head.
His silence is rewarded when he gets rabbit skinned and is melting snow in the pot to make tea.
"She was with them the whole time. When she was with my father, all of it, from the start."
Her voice comes off resigned and dull.
He has managed to piece together as much, "I'm sorry."
"She must have broken into my bank account or found out my flight plans; maybe my Uncle gave her access to the transcripts of my funds..."
Jacob gets a small forewarning before Lara forcefully presses her face into her hands, "Shit! Everything I do. I–."
Lara sits close enough to him that it takes him no time to hastily put his hands on her shoulders to steady her, even with the danger that their supper will turn to coal. "They would have found their way here eventually. They have before. But this time we had a chance to prepare," he stresses as soothingly as possible. "This is not your fault, Lara."
He leans back to give her space once it comes obvious that she is not breaking down completely. Moreover, he relishes the amusement amidst sadness at Lara's steady cursing into her hands. They'll need to push through the upcoming war. He isn't sure if they can, but he owes it to his people to at least try. And he has a feeling that with Lara, they just might.
The rabbit is thankfully still salvageable, and he gives her a bowl of herbal tea in the meantime.
Lara, however, stares at the stove still swimming in her doubts. There is the briefest of hesitant looks thrown in his direction and he feels a sting of anger and sadness at how people have treated her to be so expectant towards abandonment from the slightest of mistakes. "You wanted to keep people dear to you in your life, believe in the good in them. That is not the worst sin one can make."
She nods tentatively and the unharmed side of her mouth curls into a sad smile, "Maybe. – I'm sorry that I didn't listen."
"Were our situations reversed, I might not have either," he rebuts gently which causes Lara to thank him for the tea.
He gives her cooked meat with more tea, "Eat, it won't taste like much with what you're feeling but it'll make you feel better."
"I can't stop thinking about Jonah," Lara eventually reveals after nibbling through her fill.
"Jonah?"
"My friend. He stayed in England and Ana knows about him, knows that he is close to me. I need to know that he is okay. He's the only one I've got left." The weight of the day and the guilt make Lara blink and throw her head back to keep herself from tearing up.
Jacob feels her pain and leans closer but doesn't disrespect the social distance between them. If she was Sofia, he would gather her into his arms and whisper comforting words, but Lara is a pained soul whose trust has been broken repetitively during the last two days: and once by his secrecy. He only has his words, "Could he protect himself against Ana?"
The weeks have given him a fortunate edge to understand parts of how Lara thinks and his logical approach pays off, "Depends on what they'd do. – But Jonah is a survivor. Survivor in when people try attack against him."
"If Ana didn't mention Jonah to you, then most likely she didn't think of using him against you," he reasons and lets Lara come to the conclusion herself by giving her time. However, before long, he cannot stay silent about the bruise on her face, "Can I look at your wounds?"
Lara looks at him in confusion and it seems to take a moment that she realizes what he is referring to. "They're just scratches."
"Looks more than," he argues gently and nods towards her cheek before moving to pull the inconspicuous leather bag from his belt.
"I've seen worse."
"And somehow that fails to reassure me."
Lara weighs him for a while, "How does it work?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," he smiles amiably at her and waits for her approving nod before putting a pulverized hand tentatively on her left cheekbone and murmuring his prayer.
There is small tension in her posture throughout the skin contact. Yet, Lara takes the tingling more academically than anything and moves to inspect her cheek when he is done, "Is the prayer requisite?"
He eyes her movements. The Divine Source does a miraculous job on smaller injuries but some of the pain can linger in the brain. He probably wouldn't know if that was the case with her. "No. But it helps with the healing of the mind."
"Religion?"
"Faith," he amends quietly. He almost feels that Lara can sense what he abstains from saying about the Source's lack of Divine origin, but he cannot bear to say it out loud. Lara's trust has been violated so many times already and he doesn't want to lose her, injured, and at the start of a new war. Maybe he is making an even bigger mistake by keeping his lies to himself but that's the option that is easier for him to bear at the moment.
Lara takes off the overly large jacket that she stole from one Trinity soldier and raises the hem of her shirt to reveal the taped wounds on her side. When he gets a look at the slashes on her skin without the tape, he is shocked that she has pushed through nearly half a day with them. For a second, he is worried again that he has swallowed more than he can chew with her.
"Your wounds?" she asks instead of focusing on her own.
"Better," he answers casually. "I'm sorry that I didn't warn you. I can still feel pain, I can still be injured. It's only death that evades me," he clarifies making Lara nod slowly.
He observes her when he brings his hands onto the bare skin. He has the hands of a physician Alya had stated to him once, but he doubts that Lara is accustomed to letting people this close to her. To his relief, Lara doesn't regard him with apprehension and follows again with clinical eyes as he heals the torture-inflicted wounds.
"Would you mind if I asked where the burn mark came from?" he asks and staying close to keep Lara from pulling her shirt back down.
"Oh, I cauterized it," she replies detached. "Yamatai," she elucidates at the deepened question on his face. "Open wound, nothing to patch it with, and I was alone. Do or die."
He bows a nod, "Must have hurt."
Lara laughs at his words. It seems that the only times that she laughs openly are when they touch upon her past traumas. "It hurt like hell. But beneficial, as so far nothing has managed to top that. It must have increased my pain tolerance to a more useful level."
The silence that follows her words etches on with seriousness and he has to swallow bitterly before pushing on. "Do you want me to look at it too?"
The reply that he gets is filled with confusion. "It's healed."
He tilts his head as he evaluates the scar, "It does not pull the skin around it if you stretch the muscles underneath?"
"All scars do that."
He opens his mouth but ends up grimacing with exasperated amusement, "Less when they are fully healed. And that scar looks like it's… at least a year away from that. Maybe even a bit more."
"So, in a year it will be okay."
"You are welcome to keep it if you want," he smiles at her steadfastness, "But you are not obligated to do so. – The powder won't run out from healing a smaller mark like that."
He watches Lara weigh the scar before finally relenting and letting him heal it too.
He enjoys the small moment of accomplishment when the scar feels softer when he takes his hand away and there is a small surprise in Lara's eyes when she stretches the muscles before pulling her shirt down.
After cleaning his hands with a rag, he goes to pick up the pelts from the pile and gives her one to curl into. His men will keep watch, and he trusts that they are safe so close to the enemy border. Still, he offers to take watch.
It's only when Lara is nearly falling asleep that she inquiries quietly, her voice barely heard above the crackling of the fire and the occasional noises from the Gulag, "Why did you do all that?"
"Did what?"
"Took me in… Showed me Kitezh…" she answers to his gentle prodding and turns her head towards his direction, vulnerable after everything that has fallen over her in the past few days.
Truthfully, he isn't sure of the answer himself, but he owns her more than that, "You would have found it on your own soon. And – I believed you could understand."
"Understand?"
"How vital it is to protect it. – You are a good person, Lara. You've been handed quite distant stars but you are trying to do the best with those. There's nothing short of admirable in that."
Neither one of them says anything for the rest of the night.
