Chapter 15: Leon the Noob
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, Month: November, Day: Sunday 26th, Year: 2000, Time: 06:48 KRAT…
Lara dropped lightly to the floor and crouched low as she hurried over to some plastic crates for cover. Peering over the tops, she could see all the men that were in the room.
"How's this looking?" Asked one of the men.
"I'm not sure I can stop the leak." Said another as the men gathered around a tank that was leaking fluid. "If this doesn't work, we'll have to crimp the pipe until we get a new valve."
That's when the door to the right side of the room opened. It was a red rusty garage door that squealed like a banshee as it was opened. Lara looked over to see boots and combat trousers being slowly revealed.
"Not sure we'll be able to find spare parts out here…" Explained the other guy, as Lara narrowed her eyes at the opening door.
Her eyes widened as Konstantin entered the room with two other men. He dressed differently to Syria. In Syria he wore combat gear. Here he wore a leather coat and was buttoned partly to keep it closed. Black trouser pants hit the combat boots that hit the ground as he walked into the room slowly. His hands covered by leather gloves. Even if he looked put together then, he still gave her vibes of a dangerous man under the nice clothing. Villain vibes. That's what he gave her.
He stopped in the middle of the room as he frowned at the leaking pipes, the liquid on the floor, then to the nervous man that had approached him. He shifted on his feet, worried to be in the blond man's presence. Lara couldn't blame him.
"I left you in charge here." He said to the man darkly.
"Yes, sir." The man nodded not denying it. "But we didn't expect such heavy resistance—"
Konstantin walked to him, grabbing the sides of the man's head. "You were to be my eyes." He continued as if he hadn't heard him speak. "I expected you to see." The man got scared then as he started shaking in Konstantin's grip. "You must know what's at stake with this operation." He asked with a hiss of venom as his gloved thumbs lifted on either side of the man's eyes.
"Yes…but…" The man swallowed sharply as Konstantin seemed to be searching for something. "No…" He said as he understood what was about to happen.
"You don't." Konstantin hissed as he moved both thumbs over the man's cheeks, just below his eyes.
"No…no…" The man said, agreeing in the hopes that agreeing would save him.
"How could someone like you?" Konstantin asked.
Then in one synchronized fluid motion, he sharply sank his thumbs into the man's eyes. With a wet popping sound, they squished in and popped with blood and eyeball fluid. The man started screaming as Lara covered her mouth. The pain, Lara knew the poor man had to be feeling, would be agonizing.
"Ssshhh…" Konstantin soothed though it really didn't sound soothing to Lara's ears. "Shhhh…go easy, go easy." He said as the man grabbed at his aims in sharp tight pained movements. "Don't fear this suffering." He said as he pushed the man to the floor, careful to not push his thumbs in too deeply.
He then pulled his hands away with a wet squelching sound. The man continued to let out sounds of pain as he covered his eyes and rolled back and forth on the floor. Konstantin then stood up and shook his hands a bit, to get excess blood and eyeball gunk off them. He then turned to the other men, some had turned away and others had watched the whole thing.
"Our goal is within reach," He began as if beginning a dark sermon. "But we must be vigilant. If we succeed here, a new world awaits." He continued as the other men in the room looked to him, listening intently. "One of our own makings."
Just then the radios beeped twice. Konstantin pulled it and listened to the man on the other side.
"Konstantin, you're needed back at the prison right away." The man on the radio said as Lara lowered her hand as she looked at the man writhing on the floor. "We got a captive who may know something about the artifact."
Konstantin nodded and looked to the other men. "Remain faithful and you will share in the glory of the Divine Source." With that he turned and walked out of the room with two other men, the door screeching closed behind him. Even over the sound of the door, she could hear the man whimpering in pain on the floor.
Lara looked to the men in the room as soon as the door shut. She had six men in the room including the one on the floor blind.
"Oh god…please…" He begged in pain.
"Nobody touches him."
"What do we do with him?"
Lara ignored their words as she mapped out where the men were in the room. She was wishing she had a partner right now, she could hear Kat in her head saying 'I told you so'. But she could do this alone. She'd had faced these numbers before. She got her bow ready, feeling it would be best for now. She moved to different cover, following one of the men, quietly.
She rushed him when she was sure no one was looking. She slung her bow over his head and pulled tight over his throat. He gasped at the tight feeling of cloth, leather, and wood on his throat. He shifted back and forth, trying to throw Lara off him. To dislodge her hold from his neck so he could get that life-giving grace that was air. After a moment he dropped to his knees, still gagging, but was too quiet to get the other men in the room's attention. Lara knew that suffocating him wouldn't be enough. She then pulled her bow sharply to the right. That's all it took. The human neck is a delicate thing. His neck popped and he stopped making noise or moving. She sighed and lowered him to the floor.
She then turned to see a small stretch of wall by the upper landing. She knew one of the men had gone up there. She could not take the stairs, that would leave her out in the open. She slung her bow on her back and took two quick steps to leap up and grab the bottom of the upper walkway. She pushed herself up to the upper walkway's edge and gripped it with her hands. She propped her feet to the metal wall behind her to hold herself up off the ground, waiting and listening. The sound apparently had happened at the same time as someone kicking something in the room as they gave it no reaction to the sound of her boots hitting the metal of the walkway.
She sighed with relief as she peered over the edge, looking for the man up here. He was on the other end and had his back to her. She pushed off the wall and pulled herself up onto the walkway and moved in a crouched run. She turned the corner and dashed to the man, wrapping her bow around his neck. Once again, the man was dazed and, in his surprise, he dropped his gun. Lara's eyes widened but kept the pressure on his throat. She was relieved that there was a harness strap on the gun, so it didn't clatter to the floor below. But she had to keep him still so the gun didn't swing into the metal hand rail.
He dropped to his knees, letting out gasping wheezes as he tried to call for help or sound an alarm. He gripped at the bow, trying to pull it away. But a sharp movement from Lara's arms and he fell limp. The telltale popping of his neck snapping hit Lara's ears. His hands fell to his sides as she lowered him back to the ground. She looked around as she slid his body as close to the wall as possible so hopefully it would not be seen from below. Just four left including the blind one. She looked to the leaking pipes and tank. There was a heavy cloth draped over the top. Looking down she saw it was longer on one side and was soaking up the no doubt flammable liquid on the floor.
She looked to a table in the back and saw something that was perfect. An oil lamp with a lit flame in it. She moved along the walkway and waited, when the coast was clear she rolled off the edge and lowered herself to the floor and crab walked over to the table. She reached out and grabbed its handle hissing lightly at the heat of it. She then snuck back to the row of crates where she would have a clear toss at the Petrol tank. The glass shattered on the impact with the cloth and metal of the takes wall. The oil inside the lamp mixed with the Petrol exploded over the cloth, lighting it a blaze. She ducked into cover as the fire spread and covered the closest man, the one who'd been trying to fix the leak. His screams filled the area along with the roaring sound of the fire.
"We're under attack!" Yelled one of the men as Lara watched from her cover.
Part of the tank exploded and killed the last two men in the room. A second explosion blasted the door open as others rushed in with guns raised, all yelling about an attack. Bullets started raining into the room making Lara gasp and pulled herself into cover more. Maybe throwing the lamp wasn't the best idea. She switched her bow for her two handguns and stood from the cover.
She killed two men as they moved into the row of creates. Both went down after several shots to their chests. She emptied the clips of her guns, reloaded, and fired out through the ripped open door. Hopping to hit any that might have been right outside. Fire was spreading quickly as well as the garage started to fill with black smoke. The computers in the corner were trashed from the explosions, and if there were any documents, they were up in flames. She blew out a frustrated breath.
"Well…that went well." Lara snuck back to the upper window she'd entered from. "Kat? Kat, are you out there?"
No answer. That worried her but she was sure Kat could handle herself. She sighed and headed to the only way forward. The ripped open doors. She took several quick looks outside and didn't see anyone. She did see a few bodies in the snow, so her shots had hit someone. Once outside she shuttered at the sudden cold. She hadn't realized how hot she was in the burning room until she got outside. She shivered as she crept up to the various bodies, getting ammo from them and then checking her magazines and quickly reloading her current clips again. She looked up at a wall to her right and saw another Russian placard. She walked over and brushed frost off.
"More Soviet propaganda." Lara muttered looking over the words. "Night won't prevent us from working." She sighed. "Sounds like workaholics."
She walked to a rusted gate with a hole in the side near the top. She climbed up to it and slid out the opening to the ground on the other side. She looked around and found a small fire pit that was lit up. Shivering as she walked over, she scanned the area. There wasn't anyone around her, so she took a moment to rest. As she rechecked her ammo clips and took a closer look at the revolver she paused. She pulled out her tape player and a new tape. She took a breath before hitting record.
"Konstantin is here, the man who tried to kill me in Syria. He's violent, dangerous...but worse, he appears entirely devoted to his misguided beliefs." Lara informed the recorder. "I seem to have a habit of running afoul of religious zealots. But I suppose it all goes with the territory." She shrugged looking around. "His men on the radio mentioned a prisoner with information..." She frowned. "Could it be one of the natives I've encountered? And if so, what does he know?" She sighed and shook her head. "Trinity will not be kind in their methods. Perhaps I can find him...find out what he knows." She wondered. "Earning the trust of these locals might prove useful." She paused a moment. "Maybe Kat, Jonah, and Leon will have already gone and done that. Leon and Jonah at the very least. Kat's not here with me. I'm not sure where she is now. She'll be fine though. She can handle herself."
She stopped the recoding and popped the tape out. She labeled it and put it away in her pack with her recorder. She then stood and followed the small path. That's when she found a small tower of some sort. A guard tower at one point. She climbed its ladder and looked to the north. On some rocky hill/cliff she could see rusted structures. They gave her prison vibes. A tall guard tower, barbed wire fences, thick trees around some heavy-duty building. But Trinity had added other things for security. A spotlight in the guard tower and on the roof, it seemed.
"Not getting in that way without being seen." Lara muttered as she watched a helicopter land on the roof. "Must be another way…" She wondered as she looked around the prison.
She turned to the cable line and jumped onto it with her axe riding it down. Just as she landed, she startled and saw a man fall to the ground recently dead and another one holding his hands up at her tensed form.
"Don't shoot." The man said. "I'm not your enemy."
Lara looked around her. Four dead bodies. Two looked to be Trinity men the other two looked to be the people who lived in the area. She looked to the man as she slowly approached him.
"Who are you people?" She asked unsure.
"All that can come later." He said as he crossed his arms over his leather fur lined coat, it looked very warm to Lara. "If you want answers, then listen close. We've managed to destroy the old radio tower, but there are repeaters that keep them connected." He informed. "We need to shut them down. Help me, and I'll let the others know they can trust you. We need all the allies we can get. I'll even give you a lock pick as a reward."
Lara thought about it. She was just saying how she could use the people of this land to not only take down the Trinity forces and find her friends, but also find the Divine Source. She could even ask for its location as her reward for helping them. She nodded.
"I'll keep an eye out for them." She said accepting the quest.
"Good. We don't much time." He nodded. "Why don't you come inside for a moment, get out of the wind." He offered.
She nodded and followed him inside the shelter to listen to what he had to say. The shelter looked like a makeshift one. Wood and metal together making what could be called a tree house outside of a tree. The man was right though, inside was shielded from the wind and thus she wasn't as cold as she was outside. Still cold but the wind wasn't able to bite through her coat.
"Do you have a map?" He asked her as she rubbed her gloved hands together.
"I took one from the installation back there." Lara pointed.
He shook his head. "Here." He handed her a parchment packet. "Few maps of the wooded areas."
Lara took the maps and nodded slowly. "I'll just mark the landmarks on my map. I can't take these from you."
"Thank you. I have it memorized but, still thank you." He said as Lara opened her map and his maps.
After she marked her map up and gave him his maps back, she looked around the shelter. She found a few pages of diary. She looked at them and then to the man who was mixing something in a bowl.
"Is it okay if I read these?" She asked.
He looked up. Saw the pages and shrugged. "Sure."
She nodded and read the diary pages.
I've infiltrated the ranks of the enemy and learned that they come seeking the rich resources of the mountain - they appear to know nothing of the secret we protect. Those who build the iron road are themselves prisoners - slaves of the Red Army.
Massive machines now use the iron road, bringing more slaves, food, and raw materials for construction of a small city. It is time for me to return to my people so we might plan our attack. If we can inflict heavy losses upon them before they reach the mountain, they may give up and turn back.
'From his description, it sounds like the Soviets built a railroad directly to the mountain.' Lara thought as she looked to the next one.
We were fools. Careless, arrogant fools. We thought we could stop them, but the Red Army outnumbers us - their weapons are superior and they just keep coming. Many of my people, including myself, have been captured - forced to work the mines of our own mountain.
It's only a matter of time before they discover our secret. When this happens, we must be ready.
'He mentions their secret...what is it they protect in these mountains?' Lara looked to the man. "Could I keep these?"
"Only if you plan on getting the missing pages to give back to our people." He voiced.
Lara looked at them and nodded. That seemed like the right thing to do. She sighed as she looked outside it was time to go find those repeaters.
Country: Russia, State: Siberia, City: Siberian Wilderness, Place: Near Kitezh, Area: Soviet Installation, Month: November, Day: Sunday 26th, Year: 2000, Time: 06:58 KRAT…
Leon sat in the tree by the installation for a few moments. He finished patching up the cut on his leg and pulling the splinter from his cheek. He might not have been able to find Jonah's trail, but he found Trinity's. He was watching the Trinity people moving around from this vantage point, moving when he felt like he needed to. He jolted when his radio buzzed. He lifted it and waited to hear who was speaking.
"…need to get more information out of the prisoner." A male voice said making him flinch at the word, momentary thinking Kat, Lara, or Jonah had been caught. "If Konstantin has to do it himself, he's not going to be happy."
"We'll step up pressure, but…" A different male voice said. "He's clearly had some experience with interrogation techniques before. We think he's the leader of the Remnant, he has to know about the Divine Source."
"Find his weakness. Get creative." Said the first guy.
Leon shook his head at that. He had forgotten that the prisoner they were talking about was a guy from the area, not one of their group. But that didn't make him feel better. He had to wonder what kind of torture they were trying. Was like what Kat had talked about before they got the information about Sherry's abduction? Was it sensory deprivation?
"Well…if Lara and Kat can hear that…they'll be heading to the prison." He muttered as he put his radio away and squinted at the old Soviet buildings. "So, if I want to find them, I have to go there." He muttered as he spotted the back of a guard tower.
He nodded, having made his choice, then climbed down the tree. He pulled his gun and slowly walked through the snow. Unlike Kat and Lara, he still had his hat, so his head was warmer than the girls. As he walked, he came to what seemed like a lumber mill. He wasn't sure, but the crane and saws with trees that had been cut down and laid around in a few abandoned stacks, led him to believe that they were producing their own supply of lumber rather than bringing it in by train. He froze in the clearing when he heard a sharp creaking.
Looking around him he saw weird sticks with bones and cloths on them. Looked like something from a creepy horror movie about Indian burial grounds. He looked down and saw snow falling through cracks. The cracking he heard was wood that had aged and wasn't stable.
"Shhhhiiittt…" He breathed out slowly, getting the mental image of Kat falling though the floor in the Library at the RPD and himself falling through the floor on the Starlight. "This isn't stable."
He swallowed looking around. He could try what he did on the Starlight and jump from this. He grimaced as he sighed. He had to try. He holstered his gun then counted to three. Mouthing the numbers to himself. He then jumped. His boots kicked up snow. But as he moved the wood snapped from the jump and cracked open. He landed on his stomach on the other side of the new hole in the snow and hissed as his hands scrambled for a handhold in the snow.
He gripped something thick that felt like a tree root. Possibly from a tree that he couldn't see the stump of anymore thanks to time and the snow. He grunted as his legs dangled in the pit beneath him. He looked back and down. The wood clattered to the ground below him. By the sound of it, is was not to far below. He propped his feet to the wall and realized it was some sort of well.
He felt a vibration through his hands and his eyes widened before the root snapped. He let out a yell as he fell back and down into the well/pit. The fall was about the distance of a flight of stairs. He just barely landed on his feet, as he stumbled forward from the continued momentum and then fell to his knees.
"Okay, that hurt." He hissed as he stood up again. "And now I'm in the dark. Great."
He reached back and pulled out a glow stick from his pack. He was so glad when Sherry made the packs. He could pack a lot in them, from snacks to glow sticks. He grabbed a blue glow stick and cracked it and shook it to mix the chemicals as it began to glow and illuminate the area. He had fallen into a cavern of some sort. He walked forward a bit and found an edge to the rocks he was on.
He took a breath and hooked the stick to his belt and then grabbed the edge of the rock before dropping to the level below him. He was confused as he pulled his stick to look at the scenery. Wooden and leather seats were there on this level, so was a rolled up sleeping bag of blue canvas and some blankets. He didn't need to be an archaeologist like Lara or Kat to get that this was a campsite of some sort.
He lifted his stick and squinted at the darkness ahead of him. There was an old structure down here. Jumping down the one-foot drop from the campsite he walked toward the old bricks and stones. There used to be an archway of some sort. He didn't know what kind of structure this was, but he was sure Kat or Lara would know. On one wall he found a plaque and shook his head. The writing on it looked Greek to him. He didn't even know modern Greek.
"Wish I had a camera. I could get a picture for Kat or Lara to read." He thought out loud as he looked around the hallway like room. "Maybe I should learn Greek?" He looked back at the plaque. "Is this even Greek? What if it's Latin?" He blew out a frustrated breath and turned away from it.
He walked away from the crumbling bricks and found things for an excavation maybe. But this looked more chaotic than the camp site. This looked hurriedly abandoned. He shined his stick around, finding the weird effigies from up top here too.
"Okay…" He said slowly as he looked at the stone archway that was partly broken down and led to a tunnel. "Do I go in or not?"
He looked back. He could look around back up by the well/pit entrance. Or he could keep going. Find something to distract Kat with later. If she started going into one of her flashbacks, he could ground her with it or just ask her about it, he like to see her light up with wonder and joy. He smiled a bit and nodded.
"You've faced monsters from the dead, ghosts, and zombies. You'll be fine." He pumped himself up.
He walked down the tunnel. Seeing it looked like a regular cave now. Nothing man made as he thought it would be. At the end of the tunnel, he found another drop off. He nearly fell over it actually. Holding his light down, he saw it was only a three-foot drop. He jumped down and walked farther forward. Judging by what he'd seen as he walked around this place, there had to be an exit around here somewhere at the end of this.
A few feet further and he found another drop off. This one was only a two-foot drop. He jumped down and frowned at the ground ten feet ahead of him. He heard water and the blue light of the Chem stick was shimmering off a small creek. But the sounds of the rushing water were much more than the trickle of the small creek. It was small enough right here to jump over it and he could just make out something on the other side. Crossing the creek, passing the drop off to his right, he found some broken clay pots and a cracked box.
He walked over to the box and kneeled down. Curious he opened the box and moved the cloth inside aside to see a small coin inside about the size of the space between his thumb and finger when he made the "OK" symbol. He picked it up and found it was gold with the image of a city and to the side of the image he saw a symbol.
"Hey…that cross. That's the cross that Lara showed us back at her Manor." He recognized it when he moved his light closer to the coin. He then flipped the coin around and saw the side profile of a man. Had some sort of head piece on him, long curled hair and beard.
"Is this guy the Prophet they were talking about?" He wondered out loud. "If so, was this the currency of the city? Like America having dollars and Europe having Euros."
He flipped the coin and pocketed it. Planning to show it to Kat and Lara later. He stood and walked to the drop off. On either side of it was the sticks with bones again. He felt like it was both a decoration and a warning. Looking down he shook his head. It was a greater drop then the others. He looked up and saw that the rocks across from him looked like the kind you could sink climbing axes into. He put the glow stick to his belt then pulled his axes that he had borrowed from Lara. He gave a rub to his hammer pendent and then backed up.
He was still new to rock climbing but he could climb still. He then ran and jumped at the wall, letting out a yell as he flew. He sank his axe points into the wall, but was not prepared to body slam into the stone. He wheezed as he planted his feet. Now he just had to follow where this wall led him. He moved to the right along the wall, hooking his boot's clamps to the wall and sinking his axes into the stone or yanking them out. Finding a good rhythm, he started moving downward. He stopped after a few feet, the sound of rushing water was coming from his right. A few more feet and the blue glow from his light, lit up a waterfall and another climbable rock wall.
It was a four-foot gap, but he had made a jump like this on the ice walls, so he felt this was doable. He took a breath, bounced on his legs a bit as he pulled one of his axes from the wall. After a mental count to three, he jumped with a yell to the next wall. He hit the wall with a grunt and sank his axes into it, slipping a bit thanks to this wall's proximity to the waterfall.
He looked around and to his left he saw a continuation of the tunnel and a solid floor. He sighed and began to descend to the floor below him. Once he was a foot from the ground, he jumped down and rubbed his arms after hooking his axes to his belt. He walked a few steps forward then yelped as he slipped and slid down a muddy slope.
He stumbled on his feet, falling over on his hands and knees after dropping over the edge of the slope. He looked up and around him. He had landed by some kind of ruins. He stood up and spotted another box. This one looked to be rotting and falling apart as it was by the puddling water and mud from the slope. He walked over and gently pushed the top off.
His eyes widened at the golden cross that was inside the rotting cloth. It was so intricately made that he found himself not wanting to touch it too much. The curling spaces of the body, arms and head of the golden cross would cast a beautiful shadow in light. Looking at the little details it was hard to find any one spot to focus on. It also looked to be a pendent of some sort when he noticed the beveled loop at the top. He carefully but it away in his pack. Kat or Lara would know more about what to look for too identify it or know a bit of history on it.
He stood up and walked up some crumbling stone stairs, at the top was an open space and a wooden structure with ropes attached. He looked around frowning in thought as he lifted the glow stick higher. He was getting the feeling that this was some sort of a puzzle. He jumped from the stair top to the wood with a huff. He gripped it with his hands and slowly was lowered downward. Looking down his eyes widened as the water below him started draining and strange fan-like gears surfaced and spun steadily. He bit his lip as the wood he was gripping stopped lowering.
There was still water below him. He took a breath then let go, prying that there was nothing under the water that would hurt. He fell downward and held his breath as he hit the water. He moved his arms and legs, as Kat had taught him after learning that he didn't know how to swim other than the dog paddle. He broke the surface and looked around, flicking his hair from his face. He realized that he lost his hat when he went under the water. He silently kicked himself for not thinking about holding a hand on his head. He shook his head as he shivered from the cold water. The water was cold, but not uncomfortably so, he didn't worry he would suffer from hypothermia. He swam over to the left to what looked like a small landing.
Once out of the water he took off his jacket and tried to ring some water out of it. Looking down he saw a glint of gold in the splashing water. He picked up a few gold coins, some of them looked like the one he'd found, others had a different design. He pocketed them in a different pocket and looked to the other side of the room. In the low light he thought he could see a room over there. With a sigh, he slipped back into the water and swam over. Pulling himself up and through the archway he stood for a moment dripping on the stones.
'When I get back, I'm going to invent waterproof long underwear.' He thought slightly annoyed, resigned to the fact that the underwear was sticking tightly in all the wrong places, as he slowly walked into the hallway-like tunnel. A few feet in he found a rounded door that was chained shut. Kinda looked like something from the Legend of Zelda game Rose was playing. Next to it was his solution to getting rid of the door and chain. Some sort of red colored jar with some thick black liquid leaking from it.
Judging from the fumes he could smell, it had to be flammable. He moved back down the hall to the entrance, he pulled his handgun, aimed down the sights and pulled the trigger. His bullet was heated from the friction and the moment it hit the jar; an explosion erupted outward, as if he'd tossed a grenade. Once the dust settled he moved back to the door that was now blown open. There were some steps leading down into more water.
"How much water am I gonna run into?" He muttered as he holstered his gun and began swimming for the doorway on the other side of the room.
Once through he found himself in what he'd call a medieval dungeon. The walls were stone with a few dividing pillars and iron grates. He swam to the ledge on his left and pulled himself up, he found what looked to be a small campsite. The wood in the fire pit was just ash. He shivered as he sat down and pulled his pack from his back. Opening it he got out some wood, and a box of matches. He built a small, short-term fire, so he could dry his coat, boots, and gloves.
'Note to self, always pack dry socks and underwear.' He thought to himself uncomfortably.
After resting and letting his things dry, he pulled them back on and turned to another set of stairs down. He walked down them and found some lit bracers and water seeping from the walls. Erosion was taking place. Didn't need to be a scientist to know that. He smiled a bit, remembering the experiment his high school teacher did for them to see how water erosion of stone worked. He had set up a small tank of heavy packed sand then poured water over it at different angles and at different temperatures. That teacher had been one of the more fun teachers he'd had.
Thinking about that, he wondered what Kat's teachers were like. He knew Rose was nine and doing the math, he knew Kat had her while she was still in high school. He also knew Kat was smart enough to graduate early. So, what was it like for her? Looking around at the walls he gave a shudder.
"If this place is eroding and falling apart as much as it looks…it might not be around in a few decades." He estimated. "Shame. This is history after all. Not many historical places are left in the world."
Stepping into this new room his eyes widened more than before. This room was huge. Tall pillars, a broken bridge, waterfalls dotted the back walls, water wheel, and a stone gazebo looking thing in the center. He was not sure how deep the water was that filled the area. But if there was a water wheel, it had to be several feet at least. Leon shook himself as he tried to think of what to label this place as. But nothing came to mind. This so wasn't his thing. This was something Kat or Lara would know. Kat could guide him through this. She'd say something smart in her Norse accent about the age of the place, maybe even what its purpose was.
"Man…wish we hadn't split up." He breathed as he looked to the stone bridge that was in front of him. If he got up on top of it, he might find a way out.
He ran at to the pillar in front of him and did a jumping push off on its side. He grabbed the top edge of the pillar and pulled himself up and on top of it. Standing he found himself on an upper bridge to the weird gazebo thing. There was a gap from this bridge to the gazebo thing and at the end of the bridge was a bunch of rotting wood, sorta looked like a ramp. There were also some wood remains on the stone arch edges. If he got to one of them, he could shimmy over to the bridge. He mentally mapped out the route to take, starting with getting up on the pillar in front of him. This whole thing felt like it was an Indiana Jones adventure and made him smile a bit.
He took a running start and jumped for the pillar. He kicked off it and flew to the plank of wood on the side of the gazebo. He grabbed the plank; the cracking of the wood was so loud it was like gunshots. He let out a yelp as the whole thing splintered apart. He hit the water and sank under, he was right in that it was several feet deep. He surfaced and shook his head side to side, sending his hair to the left side of his head and sticking straight up. He looked around. Looking for a way up to that gazebo thing. He found a tunnel and swam over to it. He lifted his upper body out of the water so he could see into the tunnel. It was not long and ended just a few yards away with another round chained up door. This one had a lot of water leaking from around all the edges. The other side must be completely under water he reasoned.
He got out of the water and looked for another jar of that weird black flammable liquid. Lucky, he found one in a stack of old crates just to the left of the door. He picked it up and put it in front of the door and backed up as far as he trusted his aim and for his bodily safety. A shot and explosion later the doors were open and gushing water came into the room. The room began flooding.
He swallowed and started doing the breath exercise Kat had taught him. The quick short breaths before a deep breath to expand the lungs before a long dive. It was weird, made him feel like a dork, but it worked. He dove into the water with a good amount of air in him. He came back into the main area, surfaced and took in fresh air.
He spent another hour trying to figure out the next water puzzle to once again release a flood to raise the water level. Another water puzzle solved, and he found himself in another hidden room. This time he found a pair documents. The Problem was, he couldn't read a word of them. Again, he didn't know what the language was, but this had to be important. He rolled them back up and put them into his bag. Kat or Lara could read them later. He came back to the main room and swam over to the gazebo as all the water flooded the room enough for him to get to it properly.
At the center of the gazebo wasn't gold or riches. But a codex. He pushed the golden seal open and found a pair of pages. He face palmed. All that work for something he couldn't read. He looked around. Sure, it was fun, he got some little things and some scrolls, but this was lame. He turned and jumped back into the water and swam back to the small campsite.
Once there he rested for a bit before swimming back to the gears and found some handholds to climb up. At the top he found an open tunnel and followed it to find a ladder at the end. Looking up it, he could see a glint of sunlight. His way out. Where it led? He wasn't sure. But anything was better than being soaked.