"Those bloody bastards went down into the hole," Lara said. "We got to chase after them. I'll go first, any spikes that shoot out the wall, I will take them to the gut."
Ben was slightly uncomfortable with Lara going first because she said that. Instead, he takes a step forward and the three of them walk down the flight of stairs into darkness, switching on their flashlights. But as soon as they reached the very bottom, the opening closed up, sealing them in and they were left standing in front of dozens of men with their guns drawn on them.
Lara knew they had been caught and she raised her hands, Ben and Nadia doing the same. She noticed that the Trinity soldiers had night vision goggles, state-of-the-art ones. She was strangely curious as to where they got the night vision, but her thinking came to a stop when Jankovic stepped into view with Zima and Kovak behind him.
"Hello there Lara Croft," Jankovic said with a hint of enthusiasm in his voice. "You pulled a Trinity on us. Instead of us following you into a tomb, you followed us into a tomb."
"I guess that means you pulled a Lara on us," she said sarcastically. "Did you not see the only entrance down here close up? We're all trapped down here and we have no idea where to go."
"Incorrect," he holds up a finger, silencing her. "This cube I have inside my pocket is guiding me. It's guiding all twenty-eight of us. It's almost like He is guiding us." He takes a step towards Lara, ignoring Ben and Nadia. "Since you can't escape, how about you come with us in our search for the Crown of Immortality?" Kovak waved his gun towards Nadia's head and stayed as silent as a silent movie. "A simple yes would do Miss Croft."
Lara nodded and Jankovic took her by the hand and lead her to the front of the line as they followed the dark chasms. "Don't hurt either one," she indicates to Ben and Nadia.
"Are you talking to me or Zima and Kovak?"
"Kovak and the one named after an alcohol." She felt like grinding her teeth against Jankovic's throat. Since Lara and Jankovic were at the front line of the group, Lara counted how many people there were in total. Plus Jankovic, there were a total of twenty-eight Trinity operatives and plus her, Ben and Nadia, that totalled to thirty-one people. They were outnumbered 28:1. The odds have not been in their favor ever since Lara even discovered Trinity. Even without Ben and Nadia, Lara would be outnumbered by Trinity overall 500:1. But if there was one thing Lara had that Trinity didn't, it was wits...and a knife hidden up her sleeve just threatening to slip loose. All she had to do was stab Jankovic in the chest and that should kill him, but on second thought, he may know what happened to her father.
She had to use her wits on the ones who actually did want to bring harm to her, Ben and Nadia. That meant, Kovak, Zima, and every other Trinity soldier and mercenary who had been given Lara evil smiles or gave off pretty bad vibes. Surprisingly, Kovak and Zima gave off even more bad vibes than Jankovic or any other soldier or mercenary in the chasms with them.
"So Lara, how does it feel to be one step closer to actually discovering the Crown of Immortality?" Jankovic asked eagerly. "It must feel good my Tomb Raider."
Lara hated the name 'Tomb Raider', only when it came from Jankovic's mouth. Ben called her the 'Tomb Raider' a few nights ago and she was completely comfortable with that title. "I'm no Tomb Raider Jankovic," she says before shooting Ben a look. He shrugs innocently while being shoved forward by a mercenary. Nadia was in the same position: pushed forward by a mercenary.
"You don't believe yourself to be a Tomb Raider, then what are you Lara Croft? You're not Lara Croft because that's a boring title. No offense." His smiled proved to be self-contradictory.
"None taken Jankovic." The sarcasm in her voice as clear as water. "I'm just a regular archaeologist trying to stop a rogue organization from reshaping the world in the most awful possible."
Now Jankovic seemed to reach the peak of his anger because his fists balled up and the whites of his knuckles were visible and his face turned really red. "What Trinity is doing is for the greater good. I have told you numerous times and you still seem to prolong the inevitable. Trinity will win this war and in the end, you will be left kissing Trinity's feet."
Without thinking, Lara did the one thing she was good at: kicking ass. She kicks Jankovic in the groin, folding him before she punches the next closest soldier in the throat and disarms him of his pistol and traps him in a chokehold with the gun barrel jammed into his temple. It happened so fast, everyone else barely had any time to react.
This was Nadia and Ben's cue to fight back. Nadia used the weapon that she brought with her to subdue her hostage taker: a taser. She zapps her opponent in the groin and removes him of his bolt-action rifle.
Ben elbowed his hostage take and flips him over his shoulder and removes him of his machine pistol.
The main reason as to why none of the soldiers or mercenaries fired was because despite Jankovic being in pain, he kept a hand raised above his head, making sure not to fire. Especially not to fire right now. "Hold you fire! Hold your fire!"
Ben and Nadia walked backwards towards Lara while keeping their guns trained on the soldiers. Lara jammed her pistol harder into the soldier's temple, threatening to blow his head off. She had the leverage because she had a soldier; an initiated member of Trinity. Trinity cared too much for their people to avoid losing them. Mercenaries are completely different however.
"Listen you bloody bastards, there doesn't have to be bloodshed. I just want the cube and then we'll see if I don't blow this soldier's brains in," Lara declared. To show that she was serious, she pulled the skeletonized hammer back slowly, giving off a noise that echoed off the walls.
Jankovic was actually terrified that Lara might pull the trigger. He raised both of his hands as soon as the pain in his groin faded and he actually begged her not to pull the trigger. "Don't pull it, we'll give you the cube. I will give you the cube and then we will do whatever you want."
The other soldiers and mercenaries began murmuring and began saying 'what' a few times and looking at each other in confusion. Jankovic looks to three soldiers to his left and nods. The soldier nods back and looks at his gun. The soldier turns back to the others and instructs for everyone to lower their guns.
Zima and Kovak were the most confused out of all of them and they actually refused to lower their guns.
"Zima, Kovak, everyone else is doing it. You don't have to drop your weapons, all you have to do is lower them and make sure the safety is turned on. Trust me." He put emphasis in the word 'trust'. The two men looked at each other and grinned. They knew that Jankovic was putting on a show for Lara and that he wants the safety of their fellow soldier to be ensured before they would kill Lara. Instead of lowering the guns, the two men shouldered their guns.
Lara was actually confused as to why they surrendered so easily. In all her past experiences with Trinity, they actually never gave up that easily and they put up a hell of a fight. The last time I had a Trinity soldier in my hands and I was surrounded by mercenaries, they actually were prepared to pull the trigger once she gave the order. If it hadn't been for the explosives on the ground, I would've been dead. Goddamn you Ana. "You're putting on a show," she shouts. "You are trying to make it look as if I was in control of the situation."
"No honest, I am actually very concerned. I'm concerned for his safety. Please place the gun on the ground. This will and won't go in your favor. Seriously, not gonna work."
Lara was not going to fall for any of his tricks. She will tip the odds in her favor. It will work out for her. "How about this, you hand Ben here the cube and then we'll talk?"
Jankovic nodded and reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the cube, which was now glowing and handed it slowly towards Ben. He walked carefully like he was holding a baby in his hands and that baby was his cube.
"Be very careful, this thing is thousands of years old," Jankovic said as if he was the one to discover it. He remembered that it was technically Nadia who discovered it, only because he forced her to. "Anything else? You need us to drop our pants and cough?"
"Nope, but we will need you guys to empty every single bullet you have in every single magazine," Ben answered as he waved his machine pistol around.
Jankovic glared at him with saliva streaming down his mouth like a rabid dog. "If there is one thing I won't allow, it is to have each of us become defenseless. Not from you guys, but whatever traps and monsters are down here. We will keep our guns loaded, but we will keep them pointing at the ground." He turns his head slightly. "Won't we gentlemen?"
"Yes sir!"
"Plus Ben, Lara, Nadia, I am the only one here who has total control of all these mercenaries and soldiers. Basically, you want to get to them, you have to get to me. I will not allow ourselves to become defenseless and that is final."
While Lara, Ben and Nadia were negotiating with Jankovic, Danny's face was starting to turn red. The lack of oxygen was getting higher and higher and his chest hammered against his lungs. His eyes blinked rapidly, and then began gradually slowing down like a car coming to a stop. He licked his lower lip before he gave out one long sigh and his eyes closed.
Lara's chokehold had been to tight and she didn't even realize that Danny was unconscious. She got a feeling when she felt a sudden lightness in his weight.
Lara looked at the unconscious Danny before Jankovic chuckled a little bit. He really did care for Danny's safety, but this was too much. Unfortunately, none of the other soldiers or mercenaries laughed.
At this point, Zima and Kovak had grown increasingly impatient at the fact that they were not going to get the Crown of Immortality any sooner as long as Lara was literally in the way. Their plan had been simple to just find the Crown of Immortality, kill everyone not loyal to neither of them, kill Ben, Nadia, Jankovic and escape with Lara so they can later torture her to death. But Jankovic telling everyone to stand down was really getting on their nerves. The two of them were so eager to just kill Ben, Nadia, Jankovic and the eight soldiers not loyal and just escape with the crown and Lara. After all, Lara did kill Slavik and Kovak could not let that go unpunished. Kovak's uncle was kill by Lara and now his best friend was killed by Lara. He just couldn't take it anymore.
And Lara killed Zima's best friends Ana and Konstantine. It was just too much, it was like they were underwater and them wanting to reveal themselves was like them kicking and thrashing to get to the surface. They couldn't take it anymore, they needed air.
"That's it, I can't take it anymore," Zima declares. "Removes your masks people."
Jankovic turned around and saw all mercenaries turn the safety off their guns and aim at Lara, Ben, Nadia, and most importantly Jankovic.
A huge smile formed on Jankovic's face.