-Discovered Ruins In The Jungle
The 4x4 all terrain cars steered a sharp turn to the right upon the hill, causing a few honks from the horns of the traffic behind them as they had not expected that sudden move. They were speeding along into the very depths of the jungle that lay before them. Lara could see the shroud of trees bearing as the entrance to this forest; however a path was paved out especially for the oncoming vehicles. Twigs and rocks were the only barriers against the cars, but they were equipped with reinforced bumpers and windows, so not even a scratch was made to either the window pane or the paint work of the car.
Along with Ayesha, both she and Lara pointed out quite few wildlife rarities above and below in the wilderness. Eric Copper witnessed in awe of the knowledge of his two adventurers, as they called out in astonishment of what they saw.
"Over there Lara! I saw an adult Brahminy Kite breed flying over the canopies of the forest, what a beautiful eagle it is to look upon, with its lush red wings and white head and body."
"Oh yes I just spotted it, good find! And look towards here Ayesha! There I found a male Indian Peafowl (Peacock) gazing at us in shock and surprise, and quickly walking in the other direction. It was a magnificent pheasant to see, as you know with the divine deep colours."
"Ah yes I just caught glimpse of it, it is a lovely breed of bird" Ayesha replied to Lara.
Eric Copper just smiled as he knew they would make a strong team when entering the dangers that lay ahead, for their passions had been near of the same. Only he secretly knew that a far great challenge will endeavour them in the mines, and why should he care if they don't come out alive. He could just find others as willing as this pair. But he would not haste, for he also didn't want to waste time finding others, he wanted Lara and Ayesha to find out what is long been hidden under the dugout mines. Then with one final whip of a turn at the wheel, they came to an arena-type of place full of tents and workmanship tools.
At once the cars came to a halt, parked just outside these high standing yellow tents. Then came the remaining workforce whom under the employee of Eric Copper, some came out of the tents while others who'd carried on mining for their new discovery came out to greet their employer. All of the directors that came with them stood beside Eric Copper has he began his grand speech to his workforce.
"Good Afternoon all, to you I give my appreciation for your determination and your hard work that you have done for me. Even though we lost a few, you still keep your heads held high and for that I thank you, and let us respect those who have fallen!"
There came thunderous applause for the speech. But alas, Eric Copper had not finished yet, and he waved them to be silent.
"I bring with me Ayesha Christensen, expert in the field of technology and also having a love for exploring new terrains. With her is Lara Croft, raised in an aristocrat background, she turned to adventuring, and from then on has had a passion for archaeology and gained much experience in difficult and demanding situations. These will be the two that will go and find what is hidden underground and why it is so secure that it is able to kill any trespasser. I have no doubt at what they'll hopefully unravel will be incredible and worthy of our time. Let us not wonder any longer, get Lara and Ayesha prepared, equipped and debriefed ready to enter the ruins" proudly shouted Eric Copper to his employees.
"Yes sir!" They roared all together, and with that Eric directed the two over to one of his leaders on the site. He shook hands with him and turned towards Lara and Ayesha.
"I'm afraid I won't be sticking around for long, as I have another meeting to which I need to attend to in the hotel, I will be back very soon to see how it is all progressing. So I will leave you two in the capable hands of the team leader here. So I give you good luck and take care down there. Farewell!" With that last sentence, Eric Copper along with the rest of the directors headed off back into the cars, and immediately they accelerated out of the woods.
"Hello Lara and Ayesha, my name is Tom, and as the boss as said, I'm the team leader here, covering this area, can you follow me please" Tom politely said.
They followed Tom to one of the huge yellow tents. Inside a single long table was set out with a full range of gear, maps, a mixture of weaponry and technology available. Tom took a glance at Lara's holsters, spotting that already she had been armed with her pistols.
"Ha, I see you're already equipped with dual 9mm pistols Lara, so looks like you were already prepared for this from the beginning." Tom said laughing.
"Ha, Indeed I never leave on an adventure without them!" Lara replied, giving him a cheeky smile. Tom then turned and picked up a rather exotic weapon for Lara.
"For a secondary weapon Ms. Croft, we have this crossbow with some arrows and a laser sight attached. This is perfect for where precision matters in certain situations, use it well for the arrows are in short supply. Finally, you will just need these then; here we have just in case a rope and straps, if there should be any sort of climbing involved, also take this radio and torch."
"Thanks, these may come in handy" Lara said with a warm smile, and proceeded to attach the straps onto her body as well as the crossbow and accessories too. Tom then turned his attention on Ayesha, and brought out a handgun, radio, rope and straps and also some electronic equipment for her.
"Ayesha, for you I have this single .45 calibre pistol, a high end GPS with many features, also same as Lara, some rope and straps. Here you go!" He handed the kit over to Ayesha, as she checked out the GPS device with fascination.
"Finally for the both of you, to keep you alert and on your toes, we would be rude not to give you some water to take with you whilst you're down there. Here..."
Tom handed over four bottles of water, two each for the duo.
"Right you ready to go? You've got the equipment and I'll tell you on the way what we have uncovered so far" Tom explained.
"Yep okay, lead the way" Ayesha gestured for Tom to get ahead of them.
They headed out of the tent, and onto the pathway through into where the offline machinery lies. Passing by a few members of the workforce along the way, Tom began to speak once again.
"We've been waiting for you, these machines now cannot function properly underground anymore, and we really need to figure out why. Why cannot these high end, strong, reliable machines operate as they should when they reach a certain level in the mine. Now I'm not really a believer in magic or curses, but something is going on here, and hopefully you could tell us the answer when you get down there."
"Believe me Tom, me and Ayesha have seen our fair share of strange events that were surreal to our eyes, and it was all real." Lara said, and just then she saw Tom's eyes flashed.
"Oh right, you both know each other very well then, even before this little event, that's interesting, we were briefed that the company had got two complete strangers who didn't know each other". Tom enlightened the pair.
"Yep, we've had a few adventures with each other in the past, most with surprises in store for us. I'm sure this one would be no exception" Ayesha happily said, nodding over towards Lara's direction.
"Ah all sounds good, well here it is... this is what we have dug so far; it goes down quite a bit. Be very careful, a few of my team had gone down there as you know, and not one has ever gone back up. So this is where I leave you, I'll be in contact by radio, so good luck, and take care.
"We will. Thanks, we'll see you when we get back up!"
Tom left them there, and steadily Lara and Ayesha entered the dark hole that was the entrance to the mine. Straight away as they were submitted into nothing but darkness around them, they had their torches on to shine the way through. Walking along had been difficult, the ground was not stable at all, and one simple trip could mean the end of their lives. Warily and cautiously they continued forward, making effective use of the torches of looking for any sort of trap that can be sprung any giving moment.
Progress was made very well, and soon they were halfway through the dugout section. It was at that second that Ayesha spotted a decaying skeleton on the shallow muddy floor.
"Oh dear, Lara look over there! I think we are close to where the traps are placed for intruders"
"Rest in peace..." Ayesha softly spoke, and they had fallen into silence for a minute, until Lara tapped Ayesha's shoulder.
"Come on Ayesha, we need to move on".
As they carried on through the unwelcoming mine, it had become more unpleasant the further they got deeper. Lara then halted Ayesha still, to which she was in surprise from the action.
"What is it Lara?" she asked her friend.
"Can you hear it?"
"Hear what?"
"That's it, utter silence, it's not right..."
Suddenly out of the blue, Lara shouted to Ayesha with an echo across the dugout hole...
"DUCK!"
A dirty concealed blade out of nowhere swung outwards, if it hadn't been for Lara's instinct, they would not have breathed or be up standing anymore.
"Whew! I did not expect that, Lara you saved us!"
"Yes, but there would be more, look over there!
They saw more bodies having been struck down by the vicious traps, and not a living person was among them. Both Lara and Ayesha looked down and again silence was upon them. Lara took a glance at Ayesha, and saw she started to doubt about this adventure.
"Lara... how are we going to make it through?"
"There will be a way, there's always is"
"What happens if there isn't a way forward?"
"Well...We can always turn back"
With that dreaded thought, they continued on, avoiding any mishaps or traps along the way, that were either designed to slice the intruders, or cut them where it wouldn't allow them to walk any further. The more they went on; the hole at which they were going through had gotten smaller and smaller, until they reached a dead end.
"Blast, what do we do?"
"Hang on, I've got a scanner on this GPS device, I can determine whether it is a thick or thin wall. If it is the latter, we might have a chance!"
Ayesha got out her device and with the scanner function, she checked the wall. A sudden beep came from the GPS, and with gladness on her facial expression, Ayesha turned to Lara to deliver good news to her.
"Lara this wall is shallow, so I think if we can both kick it down together, it would break away" Ayesha described.
"Cool, let's do it!" Lara gave a thumb up to Ayesha, and then both positioned themselves in front of the wall.
"1...2...3...Now!"
An almighty force came crashing upon the wall, and immediately with the shock from two strong individual boots, the wall came away, revealing a built dome like room with underground contents everywhere.
Finally they reached a checkpoint. Their torches were still shining bright, they scanned the vast entranceway into something that hasn't been explored or inhabited for centuries. The entrance was obscure and murky, using huge wooden gates and a banner that was previously etched, but now it was impossible to see what was written due to age.
"Lara, I think this is it!"
"Yes, from the looks of this, it does, I wonder what mysteries we can unravel through here, and it looks like no one has been down here for many, many years."
"Well then, let's go!"