Chapter 41: Fight for the Atlas

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: Geothermal Valley/Cathedral, Month: November, Day: Wednesday 29th, Year: 2000, Time: 21:44 KRAT…

Leon and Lara entered the cathedral proper and crouched by a wall. They could see artificial light coming from down the hall. Peering around the pillar, they saw it was an Excavation sight. Lights were set up and connected to portable generators, negating their need to crack glow sticks. The rubble around the area showed a mix of damage. Erosion over the years of not being mandated and resent breaks from drilling and picking. In the center of the room was a hole that had been dug in the mosaic of a cross.

Moving from cover to cover, the pair finally spotted Ana. She stood before the hole with supports crossing over it and rope going down into it. Her arms were crossed either for warmth or emotion it was hard to tell. Her face pensive, hopeful, and determined. Her eyes were entirely focused on the hole.

"It's got to be down there." Ana said to herself.

Just as they were about to move to another part of cover they heard the voices of some soldiers.

"Hurry up, Ana's waiting." One of them said.

"They found it?"

They pulled back into cover. Trinity men had gathered in the room with Ana. They practically guarded her. Then there where men behind them. Lara looked back and forth then pulled her pistol. Leon was quick to follow her lead. They jumped out from cover and ran straight over to Ana. Leon held his gun around the room while Lara grabbed Ana and put her gun to her temple. Ana yelled making her men turn and see that their boss was being held hostage.

"Nobody moves." Leon called out; his hands white knuckled on his gun.

"Kill an unarmed woman?" Ana asked Lara while gripping her arm. "That would be cold, even for you, Lara."

More people showed up. Too many for Leon and Lara to fight. Even if they killed Ana, they would be dead seconds after.

"Then again," Ana began as she kept her breaths measured and even, but it sounded harsh. "I know why you haven't pulled that trigger. Why neither you or the agent have."

Leon gritted his teeth as more men showed up above them in the balcony's that lined the chamber. Way too many.

"Shoot me and my men will cut you both down within seconds." Ana said smugly.

"Thanks a lot, Captain Obvious." Leon sassed back as he spotted them.

Charges for explosives. They were set up in a circle around them and the hole. Lara saw them too. If they shot them, they could send themselves down. And the men around them wouldn't be able to stop them in time.

"Well, it's the one thing they're better at then any of your two. They're better at it then Kat likely."

"Shut up, Ana!" Lara hissed angrily as she looked at Leon then at the charges, as if asking his he saw it too.

He nodded subtly. Then he and Lara subtly wrapped their leg with a rope on the floor. Leon looked up at the gathered men. Yeah, setting off the charges was their only escape.

"Don't move!" Yelled one of the closer guys. "You have nowhere to go!"

"Kill them! Now!" Ana yelled at them.

Just as a flash of lightning strobed through the windows, Leon and Lara fired their guns at the charges. The charges exploded, one after the other. The men stumbled back as a hole was quickly opened. Lara and Leon jumped up as they started falling. Lara pulled Ana close, so she'd pull her down with them. Down the hole the three went. Crashing through old wooden support beams that snapped from age. Then they all separated in their descent. Ana slammed gut first into some beams that held up. It knocked all air from her as she hugged it on instinct. Leon and Lara fell passed her. The ropes that the pair had secured around their legs, started to pull tight. With a sharp jerk they were flipped over. Lara cried out in pain as it felt like her femur was going to be pulled from her hip.

But it wasn't just Leon, Lara, and Ana that had fallen. It was also the generators for the light from above. They were heavy and attached to the ropes.

"Those generators!" Ana gasped. "They're going to pull us all down!" She called out in fear as both Leon and Lara switched how the ropes were on them, not around their ankles.

Leon saw one of the two generators. It was close to him. He also saw how they had fallen with them. Their cables had connected to the ropes. Since Leon was so close, he started swinging back and forth. The other generator was too far from him and Lara. So, Lara struggled to aim her pistol at it.

"Shit!..." Ana called out in pain as Leon reached the generator. "Lara! Agent!" She yelled as Leon grabbed the cable and unplugged it. "Lara!"

The generator started falling quickly to the ground. Lara pulled the trigger of her pistol on the last generator. She had emptied the clip into it. That had been enough to destroy it as it sparked a tiny explosion. The shrapnel that flew miraculously didn't hit any of the three. They felt heated sparking pieces fly pass as the generator destroyed itself and fell from the cable but thankfully they all escaped injuries.

"I…I can't hold on!" Ana yelled just as both generators were taken care of. "It's going to break!"

Leon and Lara at that point lost their grips on the ropes. The two fell a few feet. Lara grabbed a hold of a cracked wooden support beam. Leon grabbed the edge of a broken wall and let out a yell from gravity pulling on him and the strain in his shoulders. The wood for Lara snapped from her impact and weight and dropped her. Leon let go from the pain and both hit the wooden floor several feet beneath them.

The pair hissed and shifted positions. Lara had hit the ground on her stomach, so she pushed herself slowly onto her hands and knees. Leon hit the ground on his feet and stumbled back to fall on his ass. So, he stood up first, shaking his arms out before checking on Lara. Ana above them stood slowly on her platform, wary of it cracking or breaking.

After a moment of helping Lara to her feet and checking themselves over, they looked up as lightning flashed again. Ana glared down at them.

"Reconsider my offer, Lara…before it's too late! You should tell your friends about it too!" Ana called down to them.

Lara glared and pulled her other fully loaded pistol. She pulled it's trigger twice at the bitch. The second shot hit Ana's right shoulder. She yelled and stumbled back. Leon watched both women as Lara growled at Ana.

"It was too late the moment you betrayed my family!" Lara yelled with wrath. "We're getting the Atlas, Ana!"

Before any other words could be exchanged, the sound of fearful and pained yells filled the air from below. Alongside it was gun fire and an entirely different kind of male yelling.

"Draugr?" Leon muttered, wondering if that's what they were, they sure sounded like it.

"Something is slaughtering my men down there, you two." Ana said as Lara looked back up at her, then looked to the left of Leon, seeing a tunnel. "If they can't find it, neither can you." She yelled at them while holding her injured shoulder, she sounded scared, pained, yet confident.

"Then you don't know us! So, fuck off to Hell!" Leon yelled up at Ana and pulled Lara toward the tunnel she'd seen.

Lara sent Ana the archer's fingers before following along with Leon. Ana glared. She'd offered them safety, a way to live. But they turned her down. She understood Lara turning her down. She hated it but she understood it. What annoyed her was both American agents turning her down. She hadn't seen Kathrine with them, but that didn't matter. If Leon turned her down, it could be assumed that she would've too.

She pulled her radio. "Croft and the male agent are on their way. I don't know where the woman is." She hissed. "Kill them both and bring me that goddamned Atlas!"

Country: Russia, State: Siberia, City: Siberian Wilderness, Place: Near Kitezh, Area: Cathedral/ Flooded Archives, Month: November, Day: Wednesday 29th, Year: 2000, Time: 21:54 KRAT…

Leon and Lara took a short rest in a room with a ready-made fire. The break was mainly for reloading weapons and checking weapons over for any damage in the fall.

"You shot the generator to pieces." Leon pointed out.

"Well, I wasn't close enough to pull it's plug." Lara shrugged. "And if I missed, I might have hit Ana. So, who cares?"

"One word, shrapnel. That thing exploded, I don't know about you, but I think some of it burnt my hair. It could've hit me in the head." Leon pointed out. "That's why I swung to it."

"Okay, yeah, shooting it was risky." Lara sighed. "I wasn't really thinking. Survival situation."

"That is true. Everyone reacts differently." He loaded his gun with a fresh clip and looked to Lara. "You loaded?"

"I am. Let's get going. We've wasted enough time." Lara said as she got to her feet.

The pair holstered up and cracked glow sticks, blue and gold. They walked to an aged and bared window. Through it they could see a golden object on a pedestal. The pedestal was on a rise with stairs and bridge leading to it. It seemed guarded by statues.

"That's it!" Lara gasped pointing at the golden object. "It has to be it…"

Leon nodded but as he turned saw something on a wall. "Lara…it's a mural…an old one."

The pair got closer to it. They could see it was a battle scene. Horses with riders and people holding pots. One of which had been thrown and was on fire and breaking.

"Those vessels…" Lara voiced as she looked at the fire and pots in the mural. "Greek Fire…"

Leon looked to Lara. "What's Greek Fire?"

"Think of it as a firebomb meets napalm. It was created back in ancient Greece." Lara explained.

Leon's eyes widened. "Think we can make some?"

"I think we'll find some. If the Deathless are as old as Kat implied, and they came with the Prophet from the south…they likely brought and made Greek Fire as a security measure." Lara explained as she turned and headed for the crack in a wall with a bit of water freely running down. "We really need to move. We're ahead of Ana for now. Let's keep it that way."

"Nice shot at her by the way." Leon voiced as he followed Lara.

Lara wrinkled her nose. "I was aiming for her head." She hissed as she looked around the hallway they came out of. "She thinks she knows me. She knows nothing about me, who I am…"

She trailed off. They'd walked into a battle ground. The aftermath of a massacre. But the only bodies were that of Trinity's people. Who or what ever killed them, hadn't fallen and were gone from the area. They kept walking though after taking ammo from the dead. They passed tunnels that were more like old burial tombs, breaking webs as they passed.

Leon made a face, he really hated spider webs and after dealing with the ones in Raccoon City, the web really gave him the creeps. Kat would have done that "get them off me" dance with swatting at her face and body.

The smell of death hit their noses making them cough. A smell both knew and would both never forget and never get used to. But it wasn't just the smell of death. It was the sickening smell of burned flesh. Rounding a corner, they found the cause of the smell.

"Oh…god…they were burnt alive." Leon realized seeing the blackened corpses.

All the bodies were bent in eternal agony. But not all were burnt to charcoal. Some still had flesh that was cooked. Leon felt bile rise. It smelled suspiciously…like cooked beef or pork. It didn't help that many had spears left in them, making them look like kababs.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Leon said as he shook his head.

"I don't blame you…it smells like Sunday roast." Lara agreed as she swallowed a few times, pushing vomit back down. "God, I think I will turn Vegan after this."

Then they heard sounds of pain. Someone was alive. They turned a corner and a man jumped up from the ground yelling in agenized pain. He scared Lara and Leon, as they hadn't expected him to be right there. His clothes were burnt, his skin red and patchy from burns. The man curled in on himself.

"I can't…" The man gasped with a dry and pained voice. "Why can't I just…" He shook.

Leon and Lara walked away from him. They couldn't do anything for him. He was already about to die as he stopped moving and making any sounds. They had to keep moving. They had to get to the Atlas and get back to Kat and Jacob.

"Do you think the Deathless did this?" Lara asked Leon as they passed through the burnt halls, smoke and embers dancing in the air.

"I'd guess so…" Leon nodded as they exited the burnt halls and heard a deep voice yelling.

It was speaking in a language Leon didn't know and was too far away and deep for Lara to understand.

"What the hell is that?" Lara wondered out loud and Leon shook his head confused.

They walked farther down the hall and found a bunch of pot shaped barrels with a black tar leaking down the sides and an orangey mist leaking from hidden holes.

"What are these?" Leon asked as he walked closer.

Lara grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "These vessels…they're still filled with Greek Fire."

"So, if they're still full, we could blow up the debris here." Leon said as he pulled his handgun but stopped. "Those fumes, would they ignite if we used a gun?"

Lara shrugged. "Maybe? I'm not sure." She pulled an arrow and dipped it into the oil flask. "But a fire arrow might not." She nocked the arrow as the two backed up a bit. "Leon, can you light this?"

"I don't have a lighter…" He checked his pack. "Kat packed matches though." He pulled one and lit it.

Once Lara's arrow was lit, she aimed it at the Greek Fire vessels. She loosed and the arrow flew. The moment her arrow pierced the first vessel, it erupted and set off the other two next to it. The fire that accompanied the explosion, flowed over the wood in the room burning it to ash quickly. The shock wave from the blast, obliterated the rock from the doorway. The pair coughed on the smoke from the fire as they rushed through the door quickly and down some stairs.

They rounded a few corners and dropped down some broken stairs as the made their way through the crumbling halls. Finally, they entered the large room they'd seen from the window above. Walking slowly up some stairs they came upon the Atlas. It seemed to be a rounded object with several faces in the shapes of pentagons, and the thing appeared to be made of gold. The metal had tiny shapes stamped or carved into it. Lara stared at it as they got up in front of the pedestal.

A flash of lightning drew the pair's gaze upward. The ceiling was one of the domes that could be seen from outside the cathedral. Nature was slowly taking the whole building back as trees and vines were growing over it, the vegetation had eroded a hole right above them. They could see the moon outside on the inky black sky, some clouds framed it like a stormy canvas border.

Lara looked back down at the Atlas and smiled a bit. "This is it." She said as she reached her hands to touch it.

It felt oddly warm as she rested her fingers to its metal. She grabbed it and lifted it from the pentagon shaped stand it had been resting on for who knew how long. Lara was so mesmerized by its patterns that she didn't notice the clink of metal. Leon had. A Grande had been thrown at them. Seeing it falling through the air, Leon grabbed Lara and pulled her down the stairs. As it hit the ground, he and Lara were behind a stone railing as cover. It exploded and they felt the shock wave and heat, but no other damage occurred.

"Trinity…" Lara gasped as she pulled her pack off.

"Yep, they're here. Pack that up." Leon told her as she did so. "Then we've gotta move."

"Targets acquired! Engage!" Yelled one of the men from above as Lara closed her pack and put it back on.

Leon and Lara by then were setting off the vessels of Greek Fire around the room to both harm and distract the team. The fight was extremely long and hard. Fire everywhere. Gunfire and arrows. Leon and Lara proving that even without a fallen Valkyrie by their side, they were forces to be reckoned with on their own. But just as Leon shotgun blasted the last of Trinity's men, he and Lara froze at the sound of an inhuman roar.

The two looked at each other. The deep loud voice from before came back to them. Whatever it was, it had to be the Deathless and they had to get the hell out before it found them with the treasure they'd stolen. They ran out the room and into the next one. The fire spreading out on the plant life and any wood in the area. The air was thick with smoke, so Leon and Lara stopped and ducked into cover, making some cloth masks over their noses and mouths so they could breathe better.

"I have zero visibility, but someone dropped all of Alpha Team." A female voice called to her team. "They have to be close. Croft and the Agent. The other teams reported multiple contacts." She said as Leon and Lara shared a worried look. "We're on our own until they break through."

Leon and Lara pulled their handguns. Both were ready to fight their way out. They had to get back to Jacob's people and Kat.

"No time!" One of the men in the room yelled to the woman. "Croft and the Agent have the package! We can't lose them!"

A new fight started. A mix of the environment for cover, Leon's smoke bombs, Lara's Molotov s, and their shared use of their handguns, they cut through the current group in the room. But both had wide eyes as they saw once more one of Trinity's people were cutting through some old doors to the room and it looked remarkably like a Sith was cutting through the wood to kill them with the Dark Side of the Force. But they got over the image quickly as they reloaded and made Molotov cocktails.

"Thinking what I am?" Leon asked her as he waited and got ready to throw the cocktail at the door.

Lara nodded. "It's strange, but I believe so." She agreed taking up a similar position.

The door was cut through and fell to the ground with a great clang. Just as the next wave of Trinity gathered to rush in, Leon and Lara threw their bottles and took cover. The bottles crashed to the ground and shattered. The flaming liquid inside splashed up and onto everything around them. Including the Trinity group. It got on six men as they came running in, screaming from the fire that ate at them now. The men flailed and ran in terror and pain. This left Leon and Lara with four others.

Leon took two and Lara took the other two. Leon took them out with well-aimed shotgun blasts. The first blew out one the guy's knee's, making him fall out of cover fully and scream. The second shot was the head and neck area since Leon wasn't up close. This killed the man slowly as he choked on blood. The second was an up-close kill that required a bit of a fight after Leon disarmed the woman. It was this fight that Leon realized that not all of Trinity's people even knew how to fight up close. It was so sloppy, and he found openings everywhere. It was like fighting someone who learnt how to fight three months ago, not for nearly three years like Leon had (both the police academy and STRATCOM). By the end of the fight, which was over quickly, the woman had a slashed throat. Lara killed her two in similar fashion. Using her dual pistols. She made quick work of killing one of them quickly and efficiently. Then she pulled her dual climbing axes. She swung them at the second guy's head surprising him with how close she'd gotten. Her first hit knocked the man's helmet off. The second cut his throat open. A crack to the skull dropped him to the floor.

Leon looked around the room that was now burning. The shelves for all the archives and scrolls, tables of documents and ink. All of it was burning. He cringed.

"Kat would be upset about this going up." He pointed out as they ran out the doors and for the exit, which lead them underground it seemed.

"I'm upset too. But it's far too late now." Lara told him as they left the smoke filled area.