A/N: Hello you beautiful guys and gals, thank you all for tuning in. I can't believe it; we're finally at the penultimate chapter in Cassie Drake's journey. I'm getting emotional right now as we come closer to the conclusion of Cassie's story.


Cassie Drake: The daughter of Nathan Drake coerced into seeking out the holy lance and destroying it.

Derek Lowell: Cassie's husband who is being denied seeing his wife until the time is right.

Frida and Antonio Hidalgo: High-ranking Ovelord soldiers and a sibling duo.

Colonel Burbank: A colonel extorting Cassie into looking for the Holy Lance.


Extended Summary

In the final installment of the Holy Cross trilogy, Cassie Drake travels to Australia to look for three holy crosses that reveal the location of the Holy Lance. Emotions get in the way as she's being coerced by hostile soldiers while also wrestling with the fact that her husband is also in-country but she's unable to see him. She fights her way through countless soldiers to locate the holy lance and get to it before Overlord does and uses it to achieve their goals of world domination.


Chapter 1: Denied Kinship

'Your affliction is incurable, your wound is severe. There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up; you have no healing medicines.

All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you; for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased.

Why do you cry about your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable. Because of the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you.'

Jeremiah 30:13-15

October 2044

Sydney, Australia

Unable to shake the dreary feeling as she sits in a cubicle, Cassie Drake takes another sip of coffee and waits patiently for the worst to happen. She clenches her knuckles and spins in her spinning chair to address the superiors standing before her. Colonel Burbank and Reese stand there, glaring at her.

Burbank talks first. "I gotta say, Cassandra, I am thoroughly and utterly disappointed with you. You and your husband. You both lost to Overlord in Djibtoui and Antarctica? How could you lose? Whenever you fought Overlord in the past, you always won, even unintentionally, and now the one time when everyone is counting on you to win, you lose. If I didn't know better, I'd say you're doing it purposefully."

Cassie sits up. "Listen, Colonel Birdbath- uhh... Burbank. It's not what you think. I'd say this was both a loss and a win on both sides. Yes, I lost because I didn't get the cross but Overlord didn't win because they still haven't found the holy lance, right? It's a stalemate for the time being. And as long as they don't get the third cross, they can't proceed."

"I'm glad we can agree on something, Cassandra. And here is something else we can agree on: the three crosses have been lost to us. Agree to disagree about a stalemate or winning in any way."

Cassie flinches. "What? How? How is that possible? You had the third cross and-"

"One of our soldiers was a goddamn traitor. He snuck into my office in the middle of the night and swiped the cross out from under my nose. Listen to me, Cassandra, everything boils down to this. We need you to get the crosses back. Plain and simple. Once you bring the crosses back, we'll locate the holy lance and we'll destroy it before Overlord gets their hands on it."

Cassie flinches again and her stomach does backflips at the idea of destroying the Holy Lance. She steadies herself before looking up. "If that's what you want, then I guess I have no choice. But, do you have any idea where to start looking?"

Burbank smiles. "Ahh, straight to the point, I like it. I didn't even have to remind you that if you fail this mission, I will personally ruin your life, right down to the last minute detail, Cassandra."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to remind me. Just point me in the direction and I'll head there. Where was it stolen?"

"You should be grateful because we intercepted Overlord communication sent from Sydney to an unidentified county ending with -beria."

"Siberia, Serbia, Liberia, Saudia Arabia-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Either way, the message said that they have all three crosses and they're analyzing all three at Base Syndey Opera House. I don't know where that is but we got intelligence working on it right now. Your job, your mission, I want you to check out the Sydney Opera House. I know it's a long shot and the base is most likely a codename but I want to leave no stone unturned. Get to the Sydney Opera House and find out what you can."

"Is it even worth it? For all we know, that's a misdirection and it was named after the opera house."

"I told you, no stone left unturned. Now get to it, now."

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

Burbank steps in front of her, blocking her path. "If you show insubordination in front of me again, I will make sure you pay by never allowing you to see your son again."

Cassie clenches her knuckles and glares daggers at the asshole colonel. "Whatever you say, Breath Mint. Uhh, sorry, Burbank."

He shoulders into her as she walks past him. She heads to her hotel room to gather her belongings and head out. As she takes the elevator with Burbank, she pauses for a moment. "Don't I get some kind of backup to go with me?"

"Your husband is also in Australia."

Her eyes widen slightly. Derek?

"But you won't have any contact with him. He has a mission of his own and you will not interfere, understand? For all I know, you and your husband could be scheming against us and we can't have that."

Cassie looks at him. "Why are you such an asshole to me?"

"You're a mass murderer and you don't deserve respect. Anyone who killed over four hundred people and got away with it doesn't deserve respect."

"Self-defense."

"Yeah, yeah. I said it once, and I'll say it again: anyone who kills four hundred people, regardless of whether it's self-defense, is a mass murderer who deserves to die."

I'm getting so sick and tired of people calling me and Dad mass murderer because we killed hundreds of people. Yes, we killed hundreds of people but those people happened to be mercenaries, pirates, terrorists, human traffickers, evil secret orders, and other types of people who have no qualms about using historical weapons for their own selfish desires. Also, Lazervic and his army gunned down innocent people just for getting in their way. Navarro was willing to sell a weapon of mass destruction purely for money. Marlow was willing to use a dangerous hallucinogen to control their enemies. And Overlord... they plan on taking over the world and rewriting it in their own mindset and beliefs. If they win, then millions, maybe even billions of people will suffer because of it.

And my father and I are the mass murderers because we killed them after they shot at us first.


Sydney Opera House

Taking a glass of water from the buffet table before him, Derek turns and takes in the scenery. He takes a large gulp of water as he watches many people coming and going out of the opera house, each one dressed in their best, looking like four million bucks.

Or whatever the currency is here in Australia.

He turns to the table and puts the glass back before looking over to his left. More people were gathering around. Normally, operas like this didn't provide such big buffets for people who came to see the opera but apparently, the house had been rented out by someone with deep pockets and they set up food areas and everything, as if people were planning on sleeping here.

Derek steps toward a tray of cookies and takes one. Biting into it, his tastebuds flare up with joy. "Son of a bitch, that's good."

"Enjoying the buffet?"

Derek turns to the voice and spots a Hispanic man in a suit walking towards him, smiling and grinning like an idiot.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

It's Antonio Hidalgo, alive, in the flesh, and forty-five-years-old. "What do you think of the sweets, man?"

"The Australian cookies are delicious, man."

"They're called biscuits."

"Tomato, tomato."

"Tohmato is British, hermano, no Australian."

"Well, whatever."

Antonio grabs a grab of Oreos. "These are cookies."

"Good to know."

"See, ya learn something new every day."

"What's going on here?"

Another Hispanic person steps forward. This time, it's a woman wearing a purple floor-length dress. Frida Hidalgo, forty-five and still alive. She looks at her brother and smiles. "¿Por qué tardaste tanto, hermano?"

"Hermana, justo te estaba comprando galletas Oreo; Sé cuánto amas las Oreos."

Derek looks at the duo before smirking. "¿Cómo está tu madre?"

The woman looks at Derek. "¿Tú hablas español?" She turns to her brother. "Antonio, Derek habla español."

Antonio rolls his eyes. "Yo estuve aquí, escuché, Frida."

Frida turns to Derek. "Your accent is horrible by the way."

Derek rolls his eyes. "Forgive me, for I was born and raised in Boston for some time. And then I became Hawaiian. And now, I'm a visitor of the Aussies."

Frida grabs an Oreo off the tray and breaks it in half. She eats the smaller piece before breaking the small half in two and eating the smaller piece again. Then she pulls both biscuit pieces of the Oreo off and licks the filling off the smaller piece before gulping down the last piece. She repeats the process with Antonio watching her mouth hungrily.

Derek notices and flinches. "Why are you staring at her like that?"

Antonio looks at him and smiles. "I just like seeing my sister eat."

"I wouldn't worry about trivial things if I were you, sir," Frida suggests. "The opera is about to start and we need to get to our seats."

"They're letting people eat at their seats?" Derek shakes his head. "Why?"

"Because it's the opera, that's why," Antonio laughs. "We all need something to do while we listen to those beautiful opera sounds, right? Besides..." He gestures to his suit. "I look like a penguin and I live by one rule: If I look like a penguin, then by god, I shall eat like a penguin, no matter what."

"So, if you're a penguin, what is your sister here?"

"A beautiful butterfly with purple wings."

Frida looks at her. "You know, you could've saved yourself like two seconds if you just said 'purple butterfly'."

"I can't help it." He hugs her from behind and snuggles warmly into her shoulder. "Purple butterfly wouldn't have been enough to describe your beauty."

Derek flinches at seeing how physically affectionate these two are for each other, even more so than siblings should be. "Are you two adopted or-"

"Nope," she answers quickly. "We're blood siblings, all the way through. Why?"

"You're-"

"We came from a very affectionate family." She grabs Antonio's head and pulls him in for a kiss.

Derek backs away in disgust. "I'm out of here, this is disgusting. You filthy perverts." He storms off, leaving the building.

Frida pulls away before laughing. "Dulce hogar Alabama."

"Funciona siempre, mi hermosa mariposa con alas moradas." He kisses her again on the lips. "Mi amor."

"Te amo, Antonio." She pulls him in for an almost desperate kiss. She pulls back after a few seconds before using her earpiece.

"All units, all clear, Derek Lowell has left the building. Everyone, get back to your post."

Dozens of Overlord soldiers hidden in the crowds dressed as rich folks in suits break off and leave while the civilians who came to enjoy the show stayed. It didn't matter; Frida and Antonio's objective was to get Derek Lowell out of the building as soon as possible. Now, they can get back to work.

Derek grabs his radio and tunes in to a private channel.

"Viper 1-1, this is Lowell, the opera house is clear, I say again, the opera house is clear."

Viper 1-1 comes through on the other end. "Roger that, Lowell, get back to base, your mission is done."

"So we can cross the opera house off the list, right?"

"Negative, got new orders. Cassie Drake is being sent to investigate the opera house."

He freezes in the middle of the street and gasps. "Cassie?"

"Roger that. Your job of investigating the opera house as a civilian is over. Now, it's time for Drake's job to investigate Splinter Cell style."

"She may need backup so-"

"Get back to base, colonel's orders."

Derek gulps as he replays the sentence once more in his head. "Cassie's here in Australia? Oh my god. She's close. She's so close, yet so far. Please, please, let me see her. Please, it's been so long."

Viper 1-1 comes through the radio again. "And we're watching you on satellite so don't try anything funny, mass murderer."

He feels himself seeth in anger before storming off across the street and nearly gets hit by a car in the process but he was too furious to care.


Chapter 2: Australian Opera

Later That Night

Sydney Opera House

"Remind me what my orders are again, Viper 1-1?"

"To infiltrate the opera house. Colonel Burbank believes in both daytime and nighttime schedules so you're to sneak in and check for any suspicious activity without being seen. If there are any signs of Overlord activity, act accordingly."

Cassie rolls her eyes. "By all means, Viper 1-1, wish me luck."

Cassie scales the wall of the Syndey Opera House and uses handholds to get up and over. She still hadn't lost her touch, even if its been a few months since she scaled something without any rock climbing equipment. Since these opera houses were regularly checked and maintained, she doubted that any handholds would give in so she decided why not throw a little caution to the window. She was climbing up the side of the opera house in the part that was least crowded and also offered the most shadows at this time of night. It was a moonless night so she didn't have to be worried about the moonlight giving her away. But it did make it harder for her to see. That's why she wore night vision goggles whilst she climbed.

Making it to the top, she heads across the roof, being careful not to make any wrong steps before heading to the door leading inside. This roof was accessible only to people who had authorization, mostly those who came up here to clean the roof but no one dared to step foot on the roof in the long time that they didn't bother to lock the door.

Finally, luck was on Cassie's side for a second.

She headed down the stairs and checked her outfit. She wasn't wearing a dress or suit because her mission was to be a superspy so she opted to wear a simple black henly and black jeans. She hunkers down as she moves across the top floor and checks for cameras. She moves through the hallways, avoiding the cameras before heading into the janitor's room. Taking out the multitool before her, she quickly unscrews the grate from the air vent before climbing through. She crawls across, coughing up a few dust bunnies along the way before she finds another grate that should lead her to where the opera is performing. At least on the top where the stage lights would ascend and descend.

Slowly removing the grate, she climbs onto one of the platforms with several stage lights underneath and moves across. She listens to the sound of an opera singer singing the high key and holding it for about seven seconds before vanishing off-stage.

Man, I miss the opera. When Evan gets older, I'm going to take him to the opera.

She leaps to another platform and that's when a mic comes to life, someone steps onto the stage, and it isn't someone who looks to be part of the opera.

"Thank you all for attending us tonight, ladies and gentlemen."

Cassie looks down at the person with eh mic and narrows her eyes. "Huh?"

"For those who came to the opera, the exit is stage left. And for those who came to attend our private concert, the party is about to begin. Now, who is ready to party?!"

Half the crowd in the audience cheers while the most reserved folks simply get up and leave. Cassie takes out her phone and uses the camera function to zoom in on the guy. When he finally turns, she snaps a photo of his face and examines it. Her eyes widen in recognition.

Antonio Hidalgo? He's one of the cartel leaders of Los Rapaces. What's he doing here?

"~If I said I want your body now..." Antonio sings suddenly, "Would you hold it against me?!" He suggestively sways his hips. "Cause you... feel... like... paradise! And I need a vacation tonight!~"

Cassie nods. Good song by Britney Spears.

Cassie moves across the platform, leaping from one to another, before she uses a rope to swing down and hides behind the curtain. She moves off stage, takes the nearest hallway, and pretends to be a random nobody.

All clear. So far, no suspicious activity. But... Antonio Hidalgo? What is he doing here? He's a cartel boss, not an associate of Overlord, right? Either way, if he's here, then there is suspicious activity. I gotta look around. Yeah, just get this done and out of the way.

She takes the first door to her right. If schematics were right, then this was the door to a janitor's closet. Closing the door behind her, she finds a big office with moderate decorations inside. At the other end of the office was a cubicle with something familiar on the desk.

The three crosses!

She sprints to the desk and stops. The three crosses had finally been put together to form a stick about two feet in length. Cassie was so tempted to touch the holy cross before she reframed herself. Instead, she took out her journal and began detailing every minute detail of the cross. She touches it only when she flips it over to capture details of all sides. She failed to do this when she was in Antarctica and it cost her dearly so now, she wasn't going to let Overlord get the better of them.

After she's done, Cassie is about to pick it up when the door slowly opens. She quickly runs off to the side and hides behind a filing cabinet.

A woman steps through with their back to Cassie. She locks the door before heading to the office. Cassie stays out of her peripheral vision by hiding behind another filing cabinet and waits patiently.

The woman sits at her desk before pulling out a phone.

"Me paenitet me tamdiu redire."

Cassie silently gasps. Latin, she's speaking Latin. 'I'm sorry it took me so long to get back'.

"Non etiam malum. Fere factum sum. Nullo auxilio. Agimus tibi gratias."

Not too bad. I'm almost done. No help. We thank you.

She hangs up before getting back to the cross. Cassie sneaks up on her and unholsters the pistol from the back of her pants. The woman stiffens at the barrel pressing into her nape.

"Debería haberlo sabido. Primero apareció Derek Lowell y ahora Cassie Drake."

Cassie pulls the hammer. "I speak Spanish too. Give me the cross, or-"

The woman smacks it over the table and sends it toppling to the ground. Cassie backs away. The woman stands up and confronts her. Cassie recognizes her.

"Frida Hidalgo?"

Frida smiles. "You want the cross, Cassie Drake, you're going to have to get it yourself."

Suddenly, the door opens and four men step through, laughing. One of them spots Cassie. "Cassie Drake," he yells in an Australian accent.

Overlord.

Cassie takes Frida hostage. "Stay back. Stay back or cartel lady here gets it."

"Cassie Drake, deberías haberte mantenido alejada." (Cassie Drake, you should have stayed away.)

"¡Cállate, Frida Hidalgo!" Cassie steps back, taking Frida with her.

"Boys, stand down."

"Yeah, that's right, tell your boys to stand down."

"I don't want any interruptions when I'm killing Cassie Drake here."

Frida knocked the gun out of Cassie's hand before turning and wrestling with her. Cassie and Frida struggle and push each other into the wall before punching and kicking each other. Frida produces two blades and swings wide arcs at her opponent. Cassie blocks and dodges but gets cut in the process. Cassie tries to tackle Frida but she sidesteps the young treasure hunter and kicks her ass forward.

Cassie somersaults before standing up and turning. Frida charges for Cassie and shoves her through the doorway.

"Catight!" the Australian Overlord soldier exclaims.

"Get the cross!" Frida commands as she fights and the soldiers obey.

In the hallway, Cassie steps back and holds her hands up in a boxing stance.

"I'm warning you," Cassie begins, "never bring a knife to a fistfight."

"You're right." Frida tucks her knives away. She draws two machetes instead.

"Okay, I see." I need a gun to take her out but she's... she's so damn fast. Goddamn it, I gotta do something.

The four Overlord soldiers step through the doorway and stand behind Frida, ready to intervene in the catfight if necessary.

Outnumbered and outmatched. But I got what I needed. If I fight right here, then there's a good chance I won't be able to find out what they know.

She turns and makes a run for it. The soldiers give chase while Frida stays behind and grins smugly.

"You know when to retreat, gringa. I respect you." She holsters her machetes. "I'll see you next time, Cassie Drake."

Cassie runs through a door on her left and heads out onto the stage where everyone is. They turn and look at her as she speedwalks across the way. She tugs on her filthy shirt like a proper rich folk would before speedwalking through the aisle seats.

Time to go into stealth mode.

She goes prone on the ground and crawls forward like a worm. Hurry, hurry up.

The four Overlord soldiers make it onto the walkway and spot Cassie Drake on the ground and they each internally groan.

This is her idea of stealth mode? one of them thinks. Pathetic.

Cassie jumps to her feet and sprints for the exit.

On stage, Antonio points to her and yells to the mic. "Hola, Cassie Drake!"

She runs through the doors leading to the lobby and makes a run for it, bumping into the people from earlier who came for the opera and only the opera. "Excuse me, sorry!" She snatches a cupcake off the table. "Sorry!" She takes a bite of it before throwing it away. The four Overlord soldiers quickly chase after her as she reaches the front doors.

"Okay, okay, not good!"

A car pulls up in front of her and the passenger door opens. "Get in, Cass!"

Cassie hops into the passenger seat and closes the door as it takes off.

The four Overlord soldiers try to catch up to the car before it is out of reach.

Cassie sinks into the passenger seat and smiles warmly. "Man. Now that's what I call a Phantom of the Opera."

"You don't know opera until you've seen Xiqu?"

"What?" Cassie turns to the driver and gasps.

"Chinese opera, of course." The driver smiles at her.

She gulps with recognition. "Simon? Is that you?"

The driver nods, keeping his smile plastered on her face. "Simon Vincent, the one and only."

"What are you doing here?"

"We'll discuss that later when we're done with this traffic."

She couldn't agree more and sank into her seat to catch her breath. "Absolutely."


With Derek, Command Center

After looking over the mission report on the Sydney Opera House, Derek puts the file down before turning to Burbank. "Well?"

Burbank looks at him. "Well, what?"

"Is this mission a failure or what?"

"Based on Cassandra's report, I'd say this is something of a win; we got information on the three holy crosses."

"Hallelujah."

Burbank smiles. "That's Jewish."

"Don't care."

"You should because we're going undercover."

"How so?"

"My team managed to intercept another burst transmission between several Overlord soldiers all over the continent. There's a patch of new recruits and they're tasked with moving heavy equipment."

"And?"

"We know where they're located and we plan to send one of our own in as a spy."

"Let me guess, me?"

"You'll be there to provide backup for her but no."

Her?

Burbank looks to someone behind Derek. "You can come on out now."

Derek turns and watches a familiar face close the distance between him.

Derek could barely contain his horror. "Angie?"

It was his old flame, Angie Vincent, in the flesh, forcing a smile on her face. "Hey Derek, long time no see."

Burbank smiles. "Miss Vincent here 'volunteered' for this op. She and her husband. You'll be happy to know that her husband is accompanying Cassie Drake at this very moment."

Derek turns and glares at Burbank. Goddamn you.


Chapter 3: Tale of Threes

With Cassie

"I'm your designated driver," Simon explains, "I've been to Australia a few times on account of my job as a contractor. And Angie is in-country too but with Derek so we won't see either one soon."

"Asshole colonel?" Cassie guesses.

Simon nods. "Absolutely. "Yep, a total asshole colonel. And a woman with a weird name."

"Blanche," Cassie realizes. She licks her lip. "Yep. And here I am thinking she might be the only one with a shred of niceness."

"Yeah, me too. But hey, it could be worse."

"What did they threaten you with?"

Simon pulls to a stop at a stop light but keeps his eyes on the road. "They threatened to declare me mentally unfit. They know about my... condition and threaten to declare me legally insane. They said they'll put me in a psych ward and they'll never let me see my children again. Or my wife. As for Angie, they told her if she doesn't help out, then they'll take me away anyway. So our survival depends on both of our cooperation."

Cassie grits her teeth. "These colonel and military guys got to go. They're utterly corrupt and a bunch of assholes who deserve to die."

"I agree. I hope they die." He looks at her finally. "Are you okay with wanting someone to die? Are you okay with wishing death upon someone? After your Marcus Cote incident?"

She nods. "Absolutely. These guys are breaking the rules and doing everything in their power to make all of our lives miserable. Honestly, I think I hate these asshole soldiers more so than Overlord."

"Yeah, assholes are always hated more than villains." She turns back to her journal and looks over the notes she took on the cross. After looking over the symbols, that look like nothing more than squiggles, Cassie narrows her eyes.

"Huh," she whispers under her breath. "What are these symbols supposed to be." She licks her lips and loses herself in the investigation. Old habits die hard as she completely ones out and ignores almost everything going on around her, including Simon calling her name. "Huh, I see. It's... it's not random symbols. It's not random squiggles. It's..." She gasps. "Oh, it's a complex translation system."

She opens a new page and copies the symbols on a blank piece of paper. After she copies them, she realizes that the symbols spell out a word in Hebrew. Though Cassie fancied herself familiar with dozens of languages, she was not as proficient in the Hebrew language as her old Catholic priest and his niece were. Sure, the Priest and Bethany taught her some Hebrew over the years and she can make out some wording, but it takes her much longer to translate and decode things. Either way, she tries to write in English what the Hebrew wordings mean. After a few seconds, something clicked.

"It's Hebrew but the translation is something in Latin. A two-fold security method. Okay, so, if I translate this Hebrew to Latin, then it spells out 'absinthium' but what does that mean?" She turns to Simon. "Hey, Si, any chance you know what..." Her eyes widen with a gasp. "Wormwood."

He looks at her and drives as the light turns green. "Wormwood?"

"It's a flower. Wormwood. I think the cross is telling us that the location of the Holy Lance is somewhere covered with a lot of wormwood. But, wormwood isn't native to Australia so-"

"The Great Victory Desert," Simon interrupts before putting his eyes back on the road. "Recently, there's been a temple in the desert discovered to be covered in wormwood. Overgrown, actually."

"Really, how do you know?"

"My job, remember? I get plenty of contracts and one of the offers I got was that I get to work on a temple recently discovered in the Great Victoria Desert of Australia to be covered in wormwood."

"But it can't be where the Holy Lance is, right?" Cassie sits back in her seat. "Why would it be here in Australia?"

"Think about it, Cassie, a temple overgrown with wormwood, and the cross translation mentions wormwood, it can't be a coincidence. Besides, there's something else to consider: Overlord's presence in Australia. There's heavy military presence in Australia and heavy Overlord presence as well. Why would Overlord, a global terrorist group of all things, settle down in Australia to decode the holy crosses? Why?"

Cassie laughs. "You're right. When you think about it, Australia seems to be extremely random compared to all the other locations. But, at the same time, the land down under makes it the perfect place for the Holy Lance to be stored because no one would ever suspect the Holy Lance to be hidden on unholy lands. Overlord must've discovered that the Holy Lance is in Australia so that's why they're here."

"Exactly." Simon shifts gears. "So then, off to the temple in the Great Victoria Desert?"

She nods. "Absolutely." She pauses before turning back to her ex-flame. "By the way, I'm sorry you got caught up in this."

Simon chuckles. "I don't blame you, Cassie, I hold no ill will towards you because I know who you are. As for you killing Marcus Cote, I understand. If someone killed one of my children, I'd kill them in a heartbeat." He looks ahead. "And if history repeats itself and you come out of this adventure unscathed, will you feel bad if those asshole military soldiers die?"

She shakes her head. "Absolutely not. By the way, how's Angie doing? Your kids?"

"They're doing fine. My children are with Angie's parents so they're A-OK."

God, Cassie groans internally, these asshole military soldiers have been at this thing for far too long. They've been a bunch of assholes to one too many people. If they die, I'm going to be doing breakdances in my head...

I would do a breakdance in real life but... I still haven't recovered from the... 'hall dance' back in middle school. She internally shivers. Then again, if I wore those horrible shoes to school I deserved what happened to me.

Also, when I get the chance, I'm going to visit my dear Aunt Chloe Frazer


With Derek

After gathering all their belongings, the six soldiers at the edge of the desert make sure to count all the spare water they're supposed to bring. They were driving a large truck, a 6x6 truck with a lot of carts in the back, ready to drop off to their teammates. With nothing better to do, one of the soldiers quickly grabs a water bottle and hydrates himself. It was going to take some time before they made it to the temple so they made sure they were well-prepared.

Wearing a ghillie suit with a desert theme, Derek rises from his prone position before charging for one of the soldiers behind the truck.

Derek rams into him and hammers his head into the back of the truck hard enough to knock him out. The loud bang attracts the attention of the second soldier who turns and is knocked out instantly by a single punch to his temple. With four to go and they all happened to be standing by the driver's side, Derek charges for them before they can get their bearings and knocks them all down. Derek kicks two of them in the groin to put them out of commission while he works on the other two. They barrel into him and he shoves them off. He kicks the third soldier in the shin before shoving him to the ground. Meanwhile, the fourth soldier reaches for a knife. Derek grabs his forearm and breaks it in half. He elbows the screaming soldier across the temple before hammering his head into the truck, knocking him out.

The third soldier recovers and Derek catches him as he tries to ram him and suplexes him headfirst into the sandy ground, knocking him out.

Soldiers five and six finally recover. Derek punches the sixth soldier with all his might square in the face and knocks him out almost instantly. The fifth soldier gets behind Derek and puts him in a chokehold.

Derek struggles for a few seconds before elbowing him and slamming him into the side of the truck. He breaks free before hammer-fisting the soldier twice in the temple and knocks him out. He steps back and pants hard, catching his breath.

"Okay, everyone, you can come out, I promise I won't bite with my fists if you do."

Several soldiers step out of the sand after discarding their ghillie suits. It's his old teammates: Dunne, Brown, and Daniels. Not only that but the major operating in Antarctica was there, Major Blanche. Derek eyes her with disdain.

Blanche examines the unconscious Overlord soldiers before looking at Derek with disappointment. "You were only to knock out one so Angie here could steal a uniform and infiltrate wherever they're taking this cargo truck."

Angie steps out from behind Blance, looking uneasily at everything around her. She licks her lips in desperate hopes to ease any tension but it doesn't do her any good.

"Well, it didn't go down like that," Derek almost snaps at her. "This is real life, not a movie." He turns before pausing and looks at Blanche. "But if it were a movie, it would be called... 'A Streetcar Named Desire to Hang Myself'."

Blanche shakes her head. "Every time." She looks at the bodies. "Either way, we can salvage this. Angie, Brown, Daniels, Dunne, and you two, change into the enemies' uniforms. Everyone else, take these soldiers into custody. Derek, cling to the bottom of the truck so you'll be there to assist Mis Angie here when she needs it."

"Mrs. Angie," the young strawberry-blonde woman corrects, "I'm happily married." She brandishes her wedding ring.

"To a psychopath."

"Don't ever call him that."


The Geat Victoria Desert, Wormwood Temple

Walking forward surrounded in all directions by Overlord soldiers, Frida and Antonio pause to take in the sight of the temple covered in wormwood plants.

"It's beautiful, isn't it, sis?" Antonio asks. "For once, a temple looks like something that could fit on a postcard and not something ominous."

Frida looks around. "Any activity recently from Drake or Lowell?"

"Aside from my unbelievable performance at the opera, radio silence." He blows her a kiss. "Maybe they weren't able to decipher her."

"This is Cassie Drake; Latin is practically her second language. Al igual que el inglés es nuestro segundo idioma."

"You speak pretty English." He grunts and shakes his head wildly before switching to an Australian accent. "Am I right, mate?"

"Prestar atención. We can't let our guard down." She looks to the front of the temple before looking at the cross in her hands. "Our forces have been working day and night to remove the wormwood from the temple and being very careful to look for any and all possible exits so we don't get blindsided."

The cargo truck finally arrived after a team had to be sent to assist the drivers and passengers and the soldiers displaced in different directions.

After a few minutes, the team working on the front entrance finally managed to open the front door but at a snail's pace so they don't accidentally trip any traps that are still rigged after all these years.

The temple opens all the way and the two siblings step through. The inside of the temple is overgrown with wormwood but Frida could make out a walkway before her. Surrounding her on the walls from all sides were various paintings and murals of events in the bible. Thanks to her mother's bible lessons, she can tell which events are taking place. Starting with the mural on the very left of the wall was the birth of Adam and Eve, followed swiftly by the forbidden fruit, then the great flood, the parting of the Red Seas, and several other monumental events from the bible with the mural on the right ending with the depiction of the first bible. Right in the center of everything was a mural of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Antonio laughs and spins in circles. "Sabes, es un poco romantic aquí."

Frida chuckles. "Tienes una idea funny del romance, Antonio."

He laughs again. "Mamá siempre decía que yo era la divertida."

Frida scans the room one more time before spotting something on the wall. Or rather, a lack of something on the wall.

Meanwhile, a disguised Angie keeps her distance as soldiers pour into the temple to check for traps.


Chapter 4: Looking for Faith

Stepping forward, Frida puts her hand on the wall and smiles to herself. She spotted something that had been missing from the painting after finally paying attention and she could barely hold in her gleeful smile. Antonio walks up behind her and wraps his arms around her.

"I see it too, sis, I see it."

Frida nods. "Yeah. Longinus is stabbing Jesus but the cross is missing in the painting. And what do you know, it just so happens there's a cross-shaped hole where the lance should be and these three crosses appear to be the right size and shape." She holds up the cross and carefully plants it into the wall. "Well then, let's see what happens."

Antonio keeps his arms wrapped around his sister as he slowly walks back, taking Frida with him. Up above, some kind of gears rotate and light shines from the roof and onto the ground. They stepped back and looked down at the ground to see what was going on. A map appeared on the floor, a map of what looked like the temple, and there it was, right in the center of light just slightly below the temple is a depiction of the Holy Lance itself. Frida snaps her fingers.

"It's telling us where to go. The Holy Lance is buried somewhere around here. We just gotta find it and then be on our way." She walks over the map and takes a picture of it. Uploading it into a saved file on her phone, she sends the image to a third party to see what they could make of it.

"Are you sure, sis?" Antonio asks. "Not to be a bah humbug but are you sure that's a map?"

"Puede que no haya terminado la secundaria, but don't doubt me, bro." Frida looks up at the lighting shining through and her eyes drift towards the flowers overgrowing on the ceiling. She tilts her head as she studies the flowers, realizing she hasn't seen those kinds of flowers before. "Huh, what are those?"

Antonio looks at her chest. "Fanservice, that's what."

She chuckles before lightly slapping his chest. "No, up there, hermano."

Antonio spots the flowers on the ceiling but is unable to make anything of it. "More wormwood I guess."

Frida looks down at the ground once more to study the map again. Kneeling, she studies all the paths outlined on the map before she mentally records them and stores them away for later. Standing up, she turns to the remaining soldiers in the temple and snaps orders.

"Everyone, out. I want a small team in here, guarding the place at all times. I want the rest outside, digging like they're getting paid for it. Move out, now."

"Yes, ma'am," the soldiers huffed in a collective voice before branching off and heading outside. A small team stays inside with Angie being one of them.

With Frida and Antonio out of the temple and the map still in place, Angie steps over to the map and cocks her head. "Huh, what do we have here?" She side glances at the other soldiers just in case. They're too busy searching the small temple to pay too much attention to her so she uses that to her advantage. She turns on her bodycam and prays that the people watching the footage have a clear image of everything she's seeing.

She kneels and runs her hands over the ground as if it'll make a difference when it comes to touching light. She looks at the wall with the mural of Lonignus and notices something. The crosses make up the spear that Longinus uses to stab Jesus, yes, but there was something off. Standing up and heading to the wall, she gets a closer look. She has to squint her eyes but she spots light shining through the cracks and edges of the cross, which makes her realize light is coming out from the other side of the cross.

She puts her hand on the cross and tries to feel for something that can lead her to something solid before a voice comes through on her earpiece. "Step back and close the door."

Angie nods to Derek's voice before turning to the temple door. "Hey," she calls to the soldiers, "can you close the door, real quick?"

The soldiers nod before closing the temple door, leaving her in the center of the room with four other Overlord soldiers.

With the door shut, the light in the center of the ground seems to shine bright. Not only that, but the light illuminating the cross shines brighter too. So much so that a narrow red light shoots out from the wall and lands smack on the map.

Stepping forward, Angie looks over where the cross is pointing and gasps.

The red light lands just below the temple with Latin writing appearing before them. One of the Overlord soldiers steps forward and uses his radio to call in Frida.

A few minutes later, the doors open and close after Frida and Antonio arrive. They spot the updated map and smile warmly.

"Huh, Latin." Frida snaps another photo. "Passus centum ad septentrionem.." She snaps her fingers. "A hundred paces to the north., it's telling us where to dig."

"Awesome," Antonio exclaims. "Muy awesome!"

"Who found out about this?" Frida asks around the room. "Who figured out how to find the spear?"

One of the soldiers points to Angie. "She did, the beautiful redhead with the brains."

Angie chuckles nervously as all the soldiers stare at her. She rubs the back of her head. "It's strawberry-blonde, actually."

Frida stands up and approaches her. "Excellent work, soldier." She grabs her shoulder. "Muy buena."

She nods hesitantly. "Thank you."

"De nada."

She looks over and sighs heavily as the soldiers remove the holy cross and exit the temple.


With Derek

Hiding behind some crates and watching Angie's footage through a screen on his wristwatch, grits his knuckles. "Close one. Shit, they know where the holy lance is. But... no, my orders were to find the lance and then have our military guys destroy it. Burbank, Reese, and Blanche want the spear to be found by Overlord. Now, all I gotta do... is wait."


With Cassie

Sneaking up to the base, Simon pulls the car over and parks near the bushes as Cassie and Simon go prone and crawl across the sandy ground. They come upon the temple and hunker down behind a rock upon seeing the massive force of Overlord soldiers occupying the temple. A large group of soldiers led by the Hidalgo siblings start digging one hundred feet away from the temple. Not only that but a large security detail, each one armed with heavy machine guns, guards the excavation crew in almost all directions so sneaking up on them was not an option.

"That's a lot of guys," Cassie whispers to herself.

Simon looks at her with a serious look. "Really, I hadn't noticed."

She looks at him. "Smartass."

He shrugs. "Better a smartass than a dumbass."

"Thank you," she exclaims, "I've been telling everyone for as long as I can remember that the smartass is the best way to go. Even my dad agrees so. I mean, if being a smartass has gotten him this far in life, why give up now?"

"Exactly. Finally, someone who agrees."

"Touche, Si, touche."

They look forward and pull out their binoculars. Cassie looks over to the temple and tries to see what she can and pauses upon seeing a familiar face. Putting down the binoculars, she turns to Simon and taps his shoulder. "Simon, there's something you should see." She points him in the direction of the wormwood temple.

Simon spots what she spotted. His jaw drops slightly before nodding resoundingly. "Well, I'm not surprised." He looks to Cassie. "Angie is here. She's infiltrating as an Overlord soldier. Really, really." He sighs heavily. "She'll be okay; Angie is a great actress."

Cassie spots Angie again. "Yeah. And... if she's here, then... then Derek is here. Right?"

He nods. "Yeah, he is."

"Why, both of our flames are here and here we, ex-flames working together."

Simon laughs. "Yeah."

Cassie looks at him. "You laughed. You're not one for laughing." She silently celebrates. "Hell yeah, I made Simon Vincent laugh."

"I only laugh for people I find funny and you happen to be the funniest person I know, Cassie. Well, second favorite."

"Good."

Cassie pulls out her radio and calls in her command center. "Viper 1-1, this is Drake, I'm at the wormwood temple, over. Need a situation report so I'm not in the dark."

Viper 1-1 laughs. "Drake, this Viper 1-1, glad to hear your voice. Yes, I'll explain the situation right now." He explains the situation to her and tells her that Derek is there along with his teammates and they are watching the wormwood temple with eyes like a hawk. According to Angie, the Overlord soldiers discovered where the holy lance was and were digging at its buried location.

"Cassie Drake, your orders are to stay there and keep watch. We need the Holy Lance right now. We need Overlord to remove the Holy Lance from us and then, when we have confirmation that the lance is in their hands, we'll send a QRF to attack. Stand down, stay back, and wait."

"Sir, with all due respect-"

"You will shut up and do what you're told, Cassie Drake, don't screw with me."

Cassie grumbles before sighing with anger. "But what about Angie?"

"She'll take care of herself."

"Reese, I hope you choke on your pudding."

"When we're on these comms, Drake, you will refer to me as Viper 1-1. And I hope I choke on my own pudding because at least I'll die happy."

He ends the comms and Cassie silently grumbles. She turns to Simon. "Did you catch all that?"

"Every word," Simon silently growls. "Asshole."

"Exactly."

"They want us to wait while our spouses are down there in enemy territory?" Simon clenches his knuckles. "I swear, if the mother of my children dies or the father of your son dies, I'm not going to stop you from going on a rampage and killing these soldiers."

"They'll be fine," Cassie assures him. "They have to be. They have to."


Several Hours Later

After digging a few holes, Frida was starting to regret not ordering an excavation crew to get here early. Sure, she had plenty of soldiers who obeyed her orders without question but without a crane, excavator, or tractor, digging took time, even with the several dozens of hands stabbing at the sand.

Frida takes off her jacket and stands over the soldiers in a tank top that shows off her tattooed arms. Antonio approaches her from behind and cracks his knuckles while staring at her like a hungry ravenous dog.

"Dios, te amo usando una camiseta sin mangas." He drools a bit. "Pero me gusta aún más que no lleves nada puesto." He reaches for the hem of his shirt.

She grabs his hand. "Not here, hermano," she tells him, "we are in the desert and we need to focus."

"Whatever you say, mi hermana."

"'Sides, I don't want to get too hot out here."

Angie steps forward and looks at them. "So... you two are brother and sister and... you..."

Frida looks at her. "We are."

"And you guys aren't... you know... disgusted by it."

Frida laughs. "I get what you're saying. Incest is taboo but... I just don't care."

"How did you two..."

Frida laughs as she lights a cigarette. "When we were growing up, we grew up in a rather poor neighborhood. Our parents were doing everything in their power to provide for us so they both had to work two jobs, sometimes, with the cartel running our neighborhood so it was just me and my big brother to keep each other company. For the next ten years of our lives, we pretty much only had contact with each other and no one else. By the time we both turned seventeen, we were kinda... well, joint at the hip. We refused to leave each other's sides, no matter what. During our ten years of living and surviving together, we developed a bond stronger than most siblings can build." She takes a puff of her cigarette before blowing out the smoke.

"We found each other to be... quite attractive." Antonio grabs the cigarette and takes a drag. "We were 17, filled with hormones, and curious. And... we were unwilling to try with anyone else so..."

"During Dia de los Muertos when we were 16 and 17, we... 'experimented' with each other." She takes the cigarette back and takes a drag. "And you know, we liked it. We... we developed something between us. Something that... that only we can understand. A kind of love. A kind of... unbreakable bond. An unbreakable bond made of love." She smirks. "In a way, it's no different than Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell. From what I hear, they were inseparable growing up, slowly found each other to be attractive, and then fell in love with each other. The only difference between us and them is... well... with them, it's not incest."

Angie groans. "That's disgusting. Seriously, that is the most eloquent way I've heard to ever justify incest."

Frida laughs. "I love the reaction people make when they hear we're brother and sister." She turns to her brother. "Pero no tanto como te amo."

Antonio closes the distance between them. "Mi hermana, mi amor, te amo."

They kiss.

Angie backs away. "Oh my god, this is gross!" She turns away and moves off.


Watching with binoculars, Cassie groans and almost vomits as he puts the binoculars down. "Were they... were they?"

Simon shows no emotion as he sets his binoculars down. "Yep. Brother and sister kissing."

She cringes. "Never, never in my thirty years alive have I seen something so disgusting."

"Yeah, they're going to Hell when they die."

She nods with a sour look on her face. "Oh yeah, definitely."


Three Hours Later

The sun sets falls and the soldiers finally strike gold... or rather... metal. The Ovelod soldiers exclaim and tell each other to be careful as they unearth some kind of roof hatch with Latin writing. Frida shines a light over the words and smiles. "The Holy Lance is here! Everyone, find the edges and lift!"

The soldiers obey and find the edges of the hatch and wipe away the dust and sand. They pry the hatch open with their crowbars and once they get their fingers in, they open the hatch, revealing the inside of a temple buried deep in the desert.

Frida sets off a flare before dropping it through the hatch to illuminate the temple.

Antonio looks down in the hole and follows the flare.

The flare lands on the ground, bouncing, and when it lands again, the liquid surrounding the flare combusts into blue flames and shines up the room. The entire room lights up with blue flames except the center where there stands some kind of sarcophagus.

"Frida," Antonio calls out softly, "Hermana, ¿estás viendo lo que yo estoy viendo?"

Frida nods. "Am I seeing what you're seeing? If you mean el gran sarcófago en el centro de la habitación, yes."

The flames lose their blue color and revert to their normal color.

"¿Un lago de fuego?" Antonio asks himself.

"A lake of fire," Frida confirms. "Yes, Antonion is a lake of fire." She turns to the soldiers. "Gentlemen, hear, hear." She decides to speak when she has their attention. "Estamos a punto de entrar en el inferno." She smirks. "For those of you who don't speak Spanish, I'll say it again in English: 'We are about to enter hell.'"


Chapter 5: Chaos in the Desert

"Huh." Frida narrows her eyes to get a better look. "Based on the size of the flare, the ground's gotta be at least fifty feet below. And we have no crane or lifting and lowering equipment. Which means, we'll have to improvise." She turns to several soldiers. "Go get a cargo truck and a winch. Antonio and I will lower ourselves down, attach the ropes, and then you'll use the winch to hoist the coffin up, understand?"

The first soldier nods. "Absolutely." He takes off and brings the cargo truck around.

Frida puts on her jacket before putting on a harness. She and Antoinio use the winch of the truck to lower themselves down. Frida goes down first while Antonio follows closely after her.

As they lower themselves down, Antonio notices something on the ceiling. "Huh, more wormwood." He looks down. "Hey, hermana, what's up with all these wormwood plants overgrowing everything? Especially on the ceiling?" He narrows his eyes. "On second thought, why do they seem to be growing on the ceiling specifically?"

Frida looks at him. "It doesn't matter. The coffin is ours so let's pay attention to that."

She touches down on the ground with a soft thud with her combat boots leaving footprints behind for the first time in a long time. With the fires surrounding them, there was no need for them to use flashlights so she didn't use any unnecessary equipment. Antonio lands beside her and scoots next to his sister out of a subconscious fear of being burned.

"I really do not like fire. But I'll take fire any day over... over..."

"Rats," Frida finishes. "You'll take fire over rats any day now, right?"

"Right. And I'm assuming you'll take fire over..."

"Cats." She shivers. "I'm scared to death of cats."

"Ahh, rats and cats, what a lovely combination."

"But not as lovely as you, Toni."

He smiles. "Aww, hermana."

She kisses him on the lips before carefully slapping his temple. "Now then we got our foreplay out the way, pay attention." She turns to the coffin while Antonio nods. She puts her hands on the coffin and runs her fingers up and down.

"More Latin writing," she notes. "No Hebrew, just Latin. Now then. Let's see what we're dealing with." She narrows her eyes. "Huh, it can only be opened in the presence of wormwood. Which means... no."

Antonio holds his hand up. "Maybe it requires a wormwood flower to open."

"Huh, interesting. So..." she notices a lack of something in the coffin. Another space for the three crosses to fit once more. "So it requires the three crosses and a flower of wormwood to open. Okay. Before we get this to Eric, we gotta open it. We'll haul this up to the surface and then open it in the temple."

Antonio grabs the winch and wraps it around the coffin tightly before stepping back. He points to the drawings on the coffin. "Que?"

"Que pasa indeed." Frida leans forward and observes the painting on the coffin of Longinus standing before three dead men. "What? What's this supposed to be?" She stiffens her back. "We'll see what our Leader makes of this." She snaps a photo before sending the photo to her leader. She turns to the roof hatch. "Alright, the coffin is secure! Bring it up!"

The cargo truck begins to retract the winch and the coffin ascends above the ground. Another rope is tossed down to allow the siblings to climb up. Once the twins reach the top, they help the winch haul the coffin the rest of the way up. Now that the coffin was on the surface and surrounded by the Overlord soldiers, Frida finally takes in the fact that this coffin was about the size of a six-foot-tall man and covered in pure gold. She takes the three crosses and inserts it into the keyhole and tries to open it but the coffin refuses to open.

Angie steps forward after getting an order through her earpiece. "What's going on?" She makes sure her hidden bodycam captures everything before her, including everything Frida and Antonio say.

Frida explains how the coffin won't open without a wormwood plant. She points to another keyhole on the coffin in the shape of a flower. "Let's go get some wormwood."

"Roger that," the soldiers chant. "Lift. Heave, ho, heave, ho!"

The soldiers help load the coffin in the back of the cargo truck and the driver waits for the all-clear. The soldiers yell that everything is secured and that he is cleared to drive back to the temple.


With Cassie

"Okay then, what's the order now, Viper 1-1? Destroy the coffin?"

"Negative, Drake. We need confirmation that the Holy Lance is inside the coffin. A QRF is en route. We're going to exterminate the soldiers, retrieve the coffin, and then open it ourselves. Get ready to fight."

Cassie grits her teeth and clenches her knuckles to get ahold of her adrenaline. She turns to Simon and looks nervous. "We're going to fight."

"I heard." Simon sits up. "I'm not much of a fighter but I'll do my best."

She grabs his wrist. "Stay here; I've had more experience dealing with this than usual."

"You don't have a gun."

"I'll sneak in during the QRF attack and take a gun off a soldier." She pauses. And if I'm lucky, I'll see Derek for the first time in over a year. She takes a moment to catch her breath before looking at her wristwatch to do a countdown. Any second now, the QRF was going to be here to disrupt the enemy soldiers. Because they need the coffin, they're not going to send jets to bomb them, meaning that infantrymen will be sent. And if her theory was correct, the QRF force was already in the desert with them, waiting to strike.


"ENGAGE!" Major Blanche shouts into the comms.

All around the Overlord soldiers in all directions, American soldiers wearing desert ghillie suits stand up and fire at the Overlord soldiers. The Overlord soldiers return fire and yell as loud as they can.

Angie gets down and heads for cover, using a truck as a shield. She is out of sight from any soldier, American or Overlord, and covers her head, blocking her ears in a desperate attempt to drown out the loud noises.

Cassie runs into the battlefield and trails behind two American soldiers wearing bulletproof vests. One of them tosses Cassie his sidearm - which saves her a trip of stealthily stealing any gun - and opens fire. She shoots two Overlord soldiers dead before taking cover behind a crate.

The cargo truck with the coffin starts up and prepares to drive off before a sniper takes out the driver. Cassie keeps her head down and heads for the cargo truck. An Overlord soldier sneaks up on her and pins her against the side. She knees him in the groin before headbutting him. She shoves him back and aims for his head. She shoots him dead before looting his body for his M4 carbine. She scavenges ammo off of him before heading for the diver's seat. She opens the door and grabs the driver's body.

"Excuse me, I want to drive." She tosses the body out and sits comfortably in the chair. "Okay, drive the coffin out of here, and then let everyone else deal with it. I'll pick up Simon along the way." She shifts gears before driving but a bullet from an enemy sniper shatters the window and forces her to take cover behind the wheel.

"God, I hate snipers." She decides to keep her head down and breaks the sideview mirror off. She then uses it to try and find the sniper but with how dark it is, that doesn't seem possible.

Angie crawls away from the truck when she feels that things are about to escalate and runs off into the desert. She talks into her earpiece to let everyone know that she is not an enemy. "It's me, Angie, please, don't shoot! Please, don't shoot!"

Angie runs and hides behind a rock and covers her mouth, blocking any possible sounds she might make. Suddenly, out of the dark, a hand grabs her shoulder. She cries and nearly leaps out of her skin before a familiar face shows up before her.

Derek.

"Hey, it's okay," he assures her. "Don't worry, Angie, we'll be fine. Come on, let's go. I'm getting you out of there."

"The coffin, the truck."

"Yeah, I heard. We'll deal with the coffin later. Come on, I'm getting you out of here." If Cassie is out there on the battlefield, I need to find her. He shakes his head. No, worry about the objective first then you can look for Cassie.


"This is not happening!" Frida screams at the top of her lungs. "HIJO DE BITCHES!" She draws dual blades and charges for an American soldier with their back turned to her. She throws both blades at his back before tackling him. She wrestles him, using Brazilian jiu-jitsu, steals his gun, and shoots the soldier dead. "You don't get to do this do us! You goddamn gringos!"

Antonio catches up with her and pulls her behind a nearby boulder. He draws his dual revolvers before taking his time. "Who's ready to play Russian Roulette?! Cabrons!" He leaps to his feet and fires at the American soldiers.

He fires twice and kills two soldiers. He shifts aim and fires again, killing two more soldiers with headshots. He laughs at the top of his lungs like a toddler having the time of his life as he spins like a merry-go-round while simultaneously killing more American soldiers. He drops down to cover only once to reload and uses a speed reload to get all six bullets in the two cylinders.

"Hey, hermana, want to play 'bag and drag' like the good old days?"

Frida looks to her. "Hell yeah!" They play a quick game of rock-paper-scissors with Frida winning with the rock. "Haha, loser, looks like I get to the bag." She charges out from the boulder and rams into an American soldier. She disarms him of his gun before putting him in a triangle chokehold. "BAG!"

Antonio fires with one revolver and hits him in the head. "DRAG!"

"¡Todavía tenemos los movimientos, bro!" Frida kicks the body off of her before looting his corpse.

Frida and Antoino repeat the process as they begin taking down the American soldiers one by one while having fun at it.


Cassie growls. "That's it!" She shifts gears and stomps on the pedal like a scared cat stomping on a tiny harmless insect. The cargo truck shoots off and into a nearby tree. The truck destroys the tree, shattering it like a wooden chair, and the Overlord sniper in the tree falls to the ground - alive but injured.

Cassie pulls a U-turn and drives back to the battlefield to get her bearings. She avoids the heavy onslaught by making a sharp turn to the right and waits for her time to act. There weren't any roads like there were in Sydney so she had to choose her path carefully. She decides to drive straight for the temple. If the QRF successfully takes Overlord, they will want to open the coffin in this temple because this is the only place with wormwood plants.

She hits a speed bump. She ran over an Overlord soldier without realizing it until the deed was done. "Oh... sorry, first-time driver here!"

An Overlord soldier jumps on the cargo truck, hanging on by the handle and foothold. He punches through the driver's window and grabs Cassie's hair. "You again, Cassie Drake!"

"Sorry!" Cassie elbows him and pushes him off the truck. "No free Ubers!"

Another Overlord soldier leaps on the side of the cargo truck and climbs in through the passenger seat. Cassie kicks him with both feet and shoves him out of the truck. Given that she was barely going twenty miles per hour, the speed at which he fell off the truck wasn't enough to kill or seriously hurt him.

This prompted yet another soldier to climb on the back of the truck. He moves over to the front, leaps down to the foothold of the driver's seat, and reaches in to grab Cassie's hair.

"Ahh." She yanks her head back. "Hey, let go of me!" She elbows him before grabbing the side view mirror she used earlier, smacks the soldier in the face, and knocks him off the truck. Without realizing it, she was heading for a cliff. She gasps with wide eyes.

Despite her original intention being to park the cargo truck near the temple and wait for the battle to die down, these soldiers insisted on jumping on the truck to commandeer it. They couldn't destroy the truck because of the coffin in the back so they settled for throwing caution to the wind and attempting to hijack it. Even though they were unsuccessful, Cassie was so busy fighting off the enemy soldiers, that she didn't realize that she was slowly but surely driving towards a cliff.

She stomps on the break but it's too late. The front of the cargo truck goes over the cliff and down the steep hill. She screams at the top of her lungs and tries to put on the brakes but they refuse to break. She slides down at a forty-five-degree angle and, with the rough terrain causing one too many bumps, puts on her seatbelt. Just as the seatbelt buckle clicks, the truck crashes into a large boulder and activates the airbags. The cargo truck comes to a complete stop afterward.

Cassie pulls herself off the airbags and wipes the blood from under her nose. "Well, I have to 'face' facts now; I am a horrible driver." She grabs her M4 carbine and all the ammo she scavenged. She removes her seatbelt before climbing out of the driver's seat. As she lands on the ground, she loses her footing and slides down like a kid at a children's slide. She rolled to a stop when the ground was finally at a ninety-degree angle again with the boulder stopping to the truck only a few feet to her right.

"CASSIE DRAKE!" a voice shouts.

Knowing that there's only one force on earth that refers to her by her full name, she quickly takes cover behind the boulder as Overlord soldiers fire at her from the top of the hill.

One of the shoulders yells, "Be careful; don't hit the coffin!"

Cassie returns fire and manages to kill two soldiers. One of them rolls down the hill and next to her. She loots the body of ammo before returning fire at the soldiers. Killing three more soldiers, her rifle jams, forcing her back into cover to fix the issue.

One of the soldiers slides down the hill and lands on the truck. One of the soldiers from above throws him a winch and the first soldier climbs into the back of the truck and secures it around the coffin. "GOOD TO GO!"

Cassie shoots the soldier dead and his body rolls down the hill. Cassie shoots the last three soldiers before using her climbing abilities to get up the truck. Despite how dark it was, Cassie was able to pick up the rope around the coffin and see that it was leading to something that disappeared over the hill.

Oh crap, they're going to hoist it up with a winch.

She hears an engine start and without thinking, she grabs hold of the coffin. The coffin shoots up out of the back of the cargo truck like a rocket and Cassie screams as she hugs the gold object with all her might. The coffin surfs up over the hill and lands hard on the ground. Cassie continued to keep her grip as the truck that was hoisting the coffin took off at sixty miles per hour with the coffin being dragged across the ground...

... and she was still clinging to it.

"You gotta be kidding me!"


Chapter 6: A Ride On A Coffin

As the cargo truck drives off in the darkness of the Great Victoria Desert with the coffin dragging behind it via a winch, Cassie clings tightly to the golden coffin with all her life. The cargo truck drives over many bumps that nearly cause her to lose her balance but she clings on with all her might. She continues to cling for the life of her as more cargo trucks drive up beside her.

"Guys, can't you seem I'm being dragged! I got enough problems already!" She aims her pistol at the cargo truck on the right and fires at the two soldiers in the back. She knew she killed them when she saw their bodies fall over. She turns to the driver and fires at him but he drives off. She turns to the left and aims at the next set of soldiers who simply take cover.

"No, don't shoot!" one of the soldiers exclaims. "You'll damage the coffin!"

"The coffin's getting dragged, man!" Cassie shouts. "Seirously, dude, read a room."

The cargo truck tugging the coffin has a soldier hanging out in the back. He climbs to the back and gasps at seeing Cassie. He taps on the window behind the driver. "Hey, drive over that hill there and stop when I tell ya; okay!"

The driver gives a thumbs up and rides for a small hill. The truck launches over the hill before stopping at the soldier's command.

The coffin flies over the hill and lands in the back of the cargo truck. The coffin nearly hits the soldier and comes to a halt against the front of the backseat. Cassie flies over the roof of the cargo truck and slides forward. She stops herself from hitting the bottom by grabbing onto the grille.

The cargo truck drives forward as Cassie pulls herself onto the hood and into the driver's view. She smiles awkwardly at him. "How's it hanging?"

The driver seemingly ignores her before seeing a second cargo truck pull up in front of the first one. Realizing she's about to be crushed by the two trucks, she drops just as the second truck breaks and collides with the grill of the first one. The airbags deploy in the first truck but nothing too major in damage. The second truck drives forward and gives the first driver a clear view of Cassie clinging to the back of the second truck.

"You gotta be kidding me!" the first driver exclaims.

Cassie climbs into the back of the second cargo truck and spots three soldiers in the back. They draw their guns on her but she's faster and can kill two of them before running dry. She charges for the last soldier and tackles him. He puts her in a chokehold. She blindly reaches for her fallen pistol and hammers him across the face. He kicks her off and climbs to his feet. Cassie rams into his gut and forces him over the edge and off the truck.

"Sorry, but Air Cassie isn't responsible for lost luggage." She climbs to the passenger side and opens the door. She leaps towards the driver and punches him. She tears his knife out of his holster and cuts his seatbelt before shoving him out. She takes over the truck and slams the doors shut. "The best thing I like about these car chases: I don't get a ticket."

Cassie slowed the truck down so she could catch up to the first cargo truck with the coffin inside. She rams into it to knock it off balance. She repeats the process before slowing down so she can get behind the truck. When this happens, she turns on cruise control before climbing out the driver's side and onto the hood.

She leaps onto the back of the cargo truck and dangles for her life. Her feet bounce off the ground but she manages to pull herself up.

That is until the soldier from earlier grabs Cassie by the hair to hold her in place and delivers a solid kick to her chin. She falls off the truck and out of sight. He looks over the edge to see if he can find her but nope, nothing.

In the front, the driver turns on the ultra-bright lights as he starts to chart into unknown territory. Sure, he already had the headlights on but he was in a car chase and he decided he would rather drive with the ultra-bright lights on just in case and scolded himself for not doing this earlier.

As the ultra lights turn on, they briefly warn him he's going up a hill. The angle of the truck causes the coffin to slide back and over the edge. The soldier in the back doesn't see the coffin sliding towards him and gets hit by it and knocked off the truck.

Meanwhile, Cassie, who was dangling underneath the cargo truck, finally pulls herself up and onto the back when the truck is finally back on flat ground. "Okay, okay. Thanks a lot for the help, Longinus." She grabs the winch and tugs on it to pull it onto the truck. It takes a lot of strength and with the coffin being dragged against the ground at sixty miles per hour, the task seemed impossible. And when the truck hit another bump, Cassie lost her balance and pinwheels over the edge.

Without thinking, she uses her grappling hook to hook onto the back of the cargo truck just as she falls out. She hits the ground hard and lands on her back, getting dragged alongside the truck. She turns on her side and manages to pull herself up to her feet so she's surfing against the ground instead of being pulled on her stomach.

"Okay, this guy is not an Uber driver. He so does not deserve a five-star review." Cassie hauls herself toward the truck and climbs into the back. "That's it, that's it." She heads over the to front and climbs to the driver's door.

She unholsters her empty pistol and rams it into the window, shattering it, and hitting the driver in the jaw. She yanks the door open before hammering the butt of the gun against his chin. When he starts bleeding from his wounds, she grabs him and rips him free of his throws him out of the truck and he goes rolling down the hill.

"Hill yeah," she screams before cringing. "Damn, that was a horrible pun." She climbs in the driver's seat and takes control. After driving for about thirty seconds, she slowed to a stop near a hill and put the truck in reverse so she didn't have to drag the coffin toward the truck. After putting the truck in park, she climbs out and heads for the coffin. She frees her grappling hook from the back.

"Hey there, Longinus, sorry for... dragging things out." She manages to push the coffin to a standing position but the sound of an engine makes her freeze and drop the coffin to the ground. "What the?"

It was the cargo truck from earlier - the one she put in cruise control - heading for her. Cassie leaps headfirst out of the way as the cruise control truck crashes into the first truck so hard, it swerves. It barely manages to miss running over the coffin and drives over the cliff. The first cargo truck dangles over the edge a bit and begins to lean over. Cassie gasps and leaps for the coffin as she realizes that the cargo truck is going to take it over the edge when it topples over.

"Oh no you don't! You don't get to fall down on me again!" She removes her climbing piton and starts cutting at the winch. "Come on, cut, cut!" She cuts with all her might before the winch manages to rip free. "Yes, yes, hell yeah!"

The cliff under the cargo truck breaks off and falls. Cassie is barely able to comprehend this as she leaps forward to try and grab hold of a handhold. She grabs one twenty feet down the cliff and dangles helplessly. "Okay, okay, the usual. Okay, one second. Give me a sec." She climbs up the cliff with some handholds breaking under her before she manages to leap to others. She uses her grappling hook to help her climb in some areas but most of the cliff starts to dangle and begin to rip from the wall.

Cassie picks up the pace and manages to grab the cliff's very top and dangle as the wall crumbles and falls into the abyss. "Hell yeah!" She pulls herself up and over the cliff and lands on her back. "My heart is pounding." She crawls and lies down next to the fallen coffin. "Hey, Longinus, sorry for the roller coaster of a ride but it comes with the territory." She sits on her knees before deciding to lie down. "Man, I missed the adrenaline thrill."


With Derek

Derek escorts Angie from the battlefield with a combat medic on their side. After seeing the truck with the coffin drive off, he had only one thought: Cassie.

No doubt his wife was being taken for a drag on the back of the cargo truck and as much as he wanted to help her, he also knew that Cassie could take care of herself. But the notion and stabbing pain didn't make him feel any better. He hunkers down and makes sure that Angie is far away from the battlefield before heading back. He fires at every Overlord soldier he could find and manages to kill four of them. He runs out of ammo before looking around to see which corpse was generous enough to give him ammo.


With Frida

Frida and Anotion hide behind the wormwood temple and check their weapons and ammo. Anotion reveals he's slowly running out while Frida has only one magazine left.

"Cabrons," Frida curses. "All of them. Goddamn cabrons."

"You said it, mi hermana." Antonio looks outward. "Orders?"

"Fight until the last bullet." Frida slaps the magazine into her assault rifle before heading out into the battlefield. She manages to down about eight American soldiers with one shot to the head but she quickly runs dry of ammo. "Time for los blades." She draws her blades once again and hides in the dark. She maneuvers across the battlefield. She gets another American soldier in a chokehold before slitting his throat. She grabs his assault rifle and several magazines to go with it. She open fires on the American soldiers before one of them manages to graze her shoulder. She winces and takes covers. "Son of a puta."

She retreats and reunites with her brother after looting a dead soldier for ammo. She hands her brother the ammo he needs before steadying themselves.

Antonio notices the bullet graze. "¡Frida, te dispararon!"

"No te preocupes. I'm fine." She rubs her wound. "Okay, time for a new plan. We're outnumbered and outgunned. If we stay here any longer, then the higher the risk there is of our death. And we need to remain alive to get the coffin."

"No se irán porque necesitan las plantas de ajenjo."

"Right, Antoino, they won't leave because they need the wormwood plants and this is the only place with wormwood plants in Australia." She grits her teeth. "Come on, we'll regroup and recover. Send out a message to all soldiers."

"Yes, mi hermana." Antonio uses his earpiece to send out orders to all Overlord soldiers still on the battlefield. "Okay then. ¿Y ahora qué?"

"We retreat and regroup." She grabs her brother's hand and leads him away.


"Ceasefire," Major Blanche orders after the gunfire dies down. Stepping forward onto the battlefield after making sure her bulletproof vest was on, she examines the damage left by the soldiers on both sides before smiling. There were major casualties on both sides but it seems that Overlord suffered almost a 99% mortality rate since none of the Overlord soldiers were standing. The American soldiers regroup before Major Blanceh steps over one of the wounded Overlord soldiers.

"Where is your commander?"

The Overlord soldier breaks the hidden capsule in his mouth and goes the way of cyanide poisoning.

"Huh, loyal soldiers." Blanche looks around. "Get to work, everyone, clear out this area. And secure the temples, both on the surface and underground; I have a feeling we're going to need both to be active."

Derek steps forward with Angie by his side. He approaches Blanche. "Well, mission a success, right? Angie can go back to her husband, right?"

Blanche looks at him. "That's for Colonel Burbank to decide; I'm going to call him right now. But for right now, neither of you are to have contact with your spouses." She turns her back to him and uses her earpiece.

Derek looks at Angie. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm fine." She smiles. "I am happy. Happy to be alive, happy there's still a chance to see my husband."

"Aww," Derek smiles. "I'm... happy too because Cassie is here."

"We just hold on a little while longer and then, then we can go home."

"Yes sir." Blanche finishes her conversations with the colonel before turning. "Well, what do you know; it looks like Colonel Burbank and Major Reese are both on their way to personally see the golden coffin of the Holy Lance. And... direct orders from the colonel... no. No, neither of you are allowed to have contact with your spouses at all until the Holy Lance is destroyed once and for all."

It took every ounce of willpower for Derek to not lash out at Blanche.


Chapter 7: Roadside History

After waiting about ten minutes, reinforcements finally arrive and Cassie is able to not relax. Picking herself off the ground, three American military trucks surround her with one of them being a cargo truck. "Hey guys, you sure took your time."

"Where are the other trucks?" Dunne asks.

"Oh, they decided to test their wings and took a nosedive down into the abyss."

"Man, you are so lucky you're not paying for any of those trucks."

"Hey, they weren't your trucks so consider yourself lucky."

Brown shakes his head. "It's only a matter of time before they destroy other vehicles."

Cassie sneers. Damn, why can't these guys be like Tyler and Alec? Man, I miss those two. "Doesn't matter, let's get this coffin out of here."

The American soldiers head for the coffin and carefully haul it up. The cargo truck backs up to allow for easy access and the soldiers load the coffin in the back. One of them checks the coffin and spots the three crosses.

"We have the three keys," he informs the others. "Inform the others back at base."

"Nice." Cassie swings her arms. "So, what's the plan now?"

The passenger door of the cargo truck opens and a familiar face steps out. "Well, well, well. Nice to see you once again, Cassandra."

Cassie feels her heart drop to her stomach and makes a fist. "Colonel Bourbon. I mean uh... Burbank. Nice to meet you here."

Another face jumps out of the cargo truck. It's Major Reese.

Great, now I'm outnumbered by two assholes. "Hello, Mr. Reese's Pieces."

"Shut up, bitch."

Cassie shivers. "Ooh, you cursed, not something I'd hear from a guy named after a candy bar."

"We've taken back the temple," Burbank chimes in. "It's time to head back now. Get in the back and for the love of god, don't even think about touching the coffin, Cassandra."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"You already dragged it halfway across the Great Victoria; we don't need your filthy hands contaminating it."

"My hands are clean." She shows her hands to them with dirt under her fingernails. "See, spitshin clean."

"Get in the truck."

Cassie obeys and climbs in the back. Dunne, Brown, and Daniels sit beside Cassie to make sure she has no contact with the coffin.

Cassie takes out her angle head flashlight and shines it on the coffin. Her mouth drops and she smiles as she can finally see the coffin with light instead of night vision. Her mind drifts to another matter at hand. "Derek, how is he?"

The rear window in the driver's seat rolls down so Burbank can talk to her. "You need not to worry about your husband, Cassandra."

"I do. You said I do."

"Not anymore. We won the battle and most of the Overlord soldiers are dead. Both sides sustained heavy casualties but we were the victors."

"And what about the Hidalgo siblings?"

"Oh, them? Forget about them; they're ancient history. We got what we wanted and nobody can say anything." He looks forward before looking at her again. "Cassandra, I'm going to need some of your opinions."

"Why? Are you deciding on which wig to buy to cover up your bald spot?"

"Why Australia? The Holy Lance, a biblical artifact of utmost importance, is hidden in Australia as opposed to somewhere like... Jerusalem. Why do you think that is?"

"What difference does it make?"

"I'm just curious."

"Ah, be careful, curiosity is the one thing that always kills cats."

"Anser the goddamn question."

"Don't take God's name in vain in front of Longinus."

"Answer the question."

Cassie snickers. "Fine. Do you want my expert opinion? Well... here it goes." She ponders for a moment. "The Holy Lance pierced Christ and because it has his blood, some believe it holds god-like abilities. We found Noah's Ark, Aaron's Rod, and the Staff of Moses and to some degree, we've witnessed power but we have yet to see if that power is supernatural... or something a little more natural in a mundane kind of way."

"I don't care about that. Like I said, I don't care what the Holy Lance is; I just want to know why in Australia of all places and what the point of this wormwood is."

Cassie rests her elbows on her knees. "Well. Like I was saying: the Holy Lance is believed to be of the utmost importance and of god-like abilities. In my mind, I believe that the followers of Jesus, his people saw the danger the spear brought. They saw how man would kill for it... like how we're doing right now, and decided that it's better that this spear, regardless of its power, be hidden away. They hid it somewhere far away, far away from holy grounds because holy grounds are the first place where most people would look. Australia. It is the land down under and I imagine that it was a largely unexplored area back in its time."

"Is that so?" Burbank smiles. "You know, when you think about it, Cassandra, the true power of the Holy Lance doesn't lie in its supposed supernatural powers but in its symbolism. Am I right?"

"Yeah, you're right. And..." She presses her lips together. "I believe... I know for a fact that the Holy Lance being hidden here was for the sole purpose of keeping people like you and Overlord away from it."

"Nobody should have that power and that is why we intend to destroy it."

"But, does it deserve to be destroyed?" Cassie leans forward. "Does it deserve to be destroyed for something it may or may not possess?"

"The symbolism, Cassandra, needs to be destroyed for the symbolism. Besides, I already said this: If a terrorist group like Overlord wants the Holy Lanceit ishen its good enough for me to consider it a weapon of mass destruction."

Cassie pauses. "There are some things in this world worth destroying, yes, but I don't think this is."

"What is worth destroying? Lost cities?"

"Some things are meant to be found and when I destroy lost cities... whether it be on accident or not, I don't do so with a casual disregard. I under the significance of it."

"You've destroyed so many lost cities and mythical artifacts, Cassandra."

"And you're going to destroy the Holy Lance."

"Only after confirming it is the Holy Lance."

"And then what? What other artifact are you doing to destroy?"

"Whatever Overlord is hunting next. And... I'm curious, Cassandra, how often do you hesitate to destroy historical artifacts?"

"Very much so."

"Would you destroy a mythical artifact for its symbolism rather than its power?"

"No, I wouldn't."

Burbank smiles widely. "Would you destroy an Iron Cross?"

"What?"

"If you found an Iron Cross medal... a badge of the Nazi party, would you destroy it because of its symbolism?"

She chuckles. "Of course. Nazis... can never escape from them. To answer your question... no. I wouldn't."

"Why not? You support the Nazi party or something?"

"No. If I found an Iron Cross - and I have a few years ago - then I wouldn't destroy it. If I destroyed it, then I'm destroying something from the past. There are all kinds of artifacts out there. All kinds of stuff you can find in the world that belong to the past. Whether it's something good or something bad. If we went down that route of destroying artifacts just because they're associated with evil, then we're destroying history, not learning or studying it. I'm an archeologist and it is my job to research the past. I hate Nazis just as much as the next guy but... after destroying history so many times, I want to preserve as much history as possible."

He looks at her. "Really, you found an Iron Cross?"

"I did. I also found a WW2 victory medal. And a journal that belonged to a soldier who may or may not have been a part of Unit 731. In addition, I found plenty of other swastikas that pre-dated the Nazi swastika. Hell, in Bosnia, I stumbled upon a group of Albanians who used a swastika as their insignia. The SunWheel Cult I believe they were called. Also, are you familiar with the Genocide of Indigenous Australians? My Aunt Chloe told me the story of it... the massacre, the genocide. She told me she collected some weapons used to kill some of the natives but she didn't throw them out. You know why?"

Burbank laughs again. "To preserve history?"

"She was planning on selling it but this was after she went legit with her teammate, Nadine Ross. They collected artifacts and instead of selling them for money, they gave them to museums. Preserving history. It's not about what they represent but what they are: history."

"I guess even an Iron Cross is something historical."

"You know, Blubber... uh... I mean, Burbank, you shouldn't destroy the Holy Lance. Keep it from Overlord, yes, but... don't destroy it. You never know. What if... what if this is the first artifact... or the last artifact we could find... linking to the bible? What if this is the Holy Lance? The actual one used to stab Jesus Christ. What if his blood is on it? What if Jesus was real? What if God was real?"

"God is not about knowing, God is about believing. it doesn't matter whether you believe in him and honestly, Cassandra, I don't want to know if he's real. It's easy to believe something when you can see it much there is no faith. Like Santa. If you know Santa is real, there is no spirit. If you believe Santa is real without having seen him, then there is faith. You're putting your heart and soul into something that may or may not be real. If God is confirmed to be real, well, it would be like this: 'I don't need to know if God is real because I know for a fact that He is real and therefore, I have no faith in the divinity'. Right now, it's like this: 'I haven't seen God before but I believe in Him and I am putting my faith in Him."

"So... you're okay with destroying this lance? How?"

"I already told you how; I don't care about God or Jesus or whatever this so-called Lance of Longinus is but if Overlord wants it, regardless of the reason, then it's good enough to assume the worst."

"Please," she begs. "Please, colonel, don't destroy this. We can destroy the temple around it but please, don't destroy the Holy Lance. We can't... please. I don't want to." She feels herself choke a bit. "I don't want to destroy another piece of history."

"Well, you're too down in the dump for that to happen, Cassandra."

"I didn't want this!" she snaps. "I was a thrill seeker, yes, I admit it, but I don't want this anymore. These treasure hunts have brought me nothing but trouble. I tried so hard to get out but for some reason, fate kept sucking me back in. I wanted to leave, I swear. I swear to God I wanted to leave. Please, you have to believe me."

"Oh, Cassandra, I believe. I believe you with all my heart. That's why I did this. That's why I held your family hostage and forced you onto this mission." He stares her in the eyes. "And you will complete this mission. Or else..."

Cassie grounds her teeth. "You suck. You know that? You really suck. Seriously, why are you such a prick? What if it was you and your family?"

He laughs again. "My family? My family left me. I tried to get back to them, to get them to give me a second chance but they refused. Apparently, they were done with my... time in the military. They were done with me being a 'so-called' glory hound. I was when I first enlisted but not anymore. I got medals, ribbons, stars, everything, I got chest candy, decorations, the whole nine yards but... when I realized that all I wanted was my family, by then, it was already too late. They were tired of waiting for me to come home when I've missed every important moment in their life or when I finally arrived home in a body bag." He pulls something out of his pocket. "You know what a Dear John Letter is?"

Cassie looks at the paper and gasps silently. "Yeah."

"I'll never forget this. I'll never forget what my military life cost me. It's written, everything, in this letter, from my wife. My son. They were my everything and now... all I got is the comrades I fight alongside on the battlefield. People like Reese and Blanche. My civilian life is forever ruined and all I got to look forward to is wondering when will my service finally be up. But there's also a part of me that wonders... what will do now? I have no home to go to, no warm body to lay next to, no son to play soccer with so what do I do? The only people that still accept me are here in the military? I want to go home but these soldiers around me are also my family so... what do I do?"

Cassie gasps silently and sits back. She looks at the coffin and then back to the colonel. "I know how you're feeling. Look, I-"

"I'm a man in my forties; I've wasted away twenty, twenty-five years of my life in the military, I have nobody outside and all people remember me as is a glory hound out for chest candy."

"Kinda like how everyone remembers me as a destructive treasure hunter and adrenaline junkie." She ponders for a moment. "I'm sorry you didn't walk away sooner."

"Don't. You have nothing to be sorry for. The only thing you should be sorry for is not walking away sooner."

"I will walk away. I will walk away after this adventure."

Burbank finally folds his letter and puts it back in his jacket. "You know, Cassie, maybe I have been a little too rough on ya."

She chuckles. "Gee, ya think?" She leans back in her seat. "Huh, looks like all of us seem to be suffering from the separation of our loved ones."

"Yeah, it seems."

"But now, we have a chance to break the cycle. Come on. Let's just... finish this mission up and give everyone here a second chance."

"Yeah, I agree, Cass. Let's... finish this up and go home. Well, so.. you can go home but me... I'm still trying to figure that out."

Unbeknownst to those in the truck, Frida and Antonio were clinging to the underside of the truck, listening to the conversation with keen ears. They look at each other silently but each one can see emotion in the other sibling's eye.

Cassie looks at the coffin and feels an urge to reach out and touch it before she takes her hand back. She remembers something she thought back five years ago.


2039

It's been almost a year since their latest adventure involving Noah's Ark. A month or two after they graduated, Cassie had fallen pregnant and Overlord sends a letter to their house, letting the duo know that they know she is pregnant and their home address. They moved to a new and comfy cushioned apartment with three rooms in preparation for the baby to be coming soon. They hadn't received any letters from Overlord since that letter but Overlord was still out there, planning, and letting them live their lives in peace until they decided to embark on a quest to find a mythical object or lost city to take over the world.

Overlord had made it clear that they would not let Cassie and Derek live peaceful lives, even if they stepped away from treasure hunting. But both Cassie and Derek made a pact that if there was a lost city or mythical object out there, they would make it their mission to make it unattainable to Overlord. They want their son to grow up in a peaceful world and Overlord's vision of a fair world would prevent that.

This world can't be fair, Cassie thought. They're only making it fair for their own convenience. Sure, this world may not be fair and can be crapsack but I like this world the way it is. I want Evan to have the same experiences as I did and live a life of peace. If Overlord or anyone else tries to take over or destroy this world, I will stop them. I will destroy all lost cities and mythical objects if it means Little Evan can experience peace in this world.


I'm sorry, Coffin of Longinus, but I stand by what I told myself. As much as I don't want you and the Holy Lance to be destroyed... I will if it means I can get back to Evan and he can live in this world in peace.


Chapter 8: Wormwood

After arriving back at the temple, stage lights were set up so everyone could see better. Burbank and Reese reunited with Blanche who gave him a rundown of everything that happened here. The helicopter that Burbank took to get here remains off to the side, powered off.

American soldiers occupied the area around the roof hatch as well as the wormwood temple. Cassie steps forward and spots Simon.

"What's up?"

Simon hugs her. "My amazement, that's what."

"What a relief." She looks around. "Okay then, where's uh... Derek and Angie?"

"I asked Blanche that and she said they're around but... we're not allowed to make contact with them."

"Why not?"

"Blanche still distrusts us."

"Who still says 'distrust' nowadays?"

"Uhh, a sociopath like me, that's who."

She strokes his chin. "True, but, you're a lovable sociopath."

Burbank helps the soldiers get the coffin down off the truck. Using the same method the Overlord soldiers used, they tied a winch to the coffin and carefully lowered it down into the underground temple once more.

"What's the plan?" Cassie asks.

Burbank steps toward the opening. "We're going to open the coffin down there."

"We are?"

"No, you're not, we are. My men and I are going to go down there, check to see if this Holy Lance is real, and then... we'll set charges and seal this temple up for good and make sure nobody ever finds this place."

"So... you're not going to destroy the lance?"

"Not anymore. Like you said... preserving history." He looks over the edge. "Just promise me one thing, Cassie."

"What's that?"

"If I get buried alive down there, make sure I'm worth something in a thousand years."

She gives him a thumbs-up. "Sure thing."

He turns to the soldiers. "Ladies and gentlemen, are you all ready to make history? You better be because that is what is about to happen. Now, I could care less but... who here wants to see if the thing inside that coffin is the actual spear used to stab Jesus? Even if you're not religious, I think it is something worth seeing. Anyone? Anybody?"

Several soldiers step forward, including Blanche and Reese.

"That's what I thought." He turns to Cassie. "I know you just want to be home with your son so... we'll finish up the mission here. You can take a moment to rest."

"And Derek and Angie? Where are they?"

Burbank smiles. "The spot where you and Simon were staking out the Overlord soldiers."

Her brows arch. "Really? Does that mean... they can see us?" She turns and waves. "Hi, Derek, hi Angie."

"They don't have any binoculars with you. Besides, I didn't tell them that you would be arriving back but I'm sure they know. For now, just wait just in case."

"Just in case..." she hisses softly. "Sure, whatever you say."

Cassie almost feels her rage spike again before Simon grabs her shoulder. The tall and muscular man leans down to whisper to her. "Calm yourself. Just think, victory in the form of Derek is literally half a mile away. All you gotta do... is wait. Wait two more minutes. Three more minutes... five more minutes, however long. Just think, do you really want rage to be the one thing you feel when you're so close to victory or would you rather be proud and relieved?"

She took in his words before chuckling. "Did you learn that from Angie and her Buddhist teachings?"

"I did. And it is the only reason why I'm not lashing out right now. I want to be in a happy mood, so when I see Angie, I'll be even happier. Please, heed my words."

She replays his words in her head before turning to Burbank and nodding with a forced smile on her face. It was forced at her first before she calmed down and sighed softly. "I'll be up here... just in case you need me."

Burbank nods gratefully. "Thank you." He turns to the soldiers. "Now then, let's rappel down, soldiers, now!"

The soldiers obey their superiors and begin to rappel down one by one. The first set went down to extinguish the lake of fire to make more room for their comrades. Once the fires were out of control and no longer flooding the room, more soldiers rappel down. Burbank kneels over the hole before reaching and plucks a wormwood plant off the ceiling. He tucks it in his front breast pocket. "How do I look?"

"Like a soldier ready for prom."

"Excellent."

After Reese and Blanche rappel down, Burbank goes last. Cassie, Simon, and four other soldiers remain up top. The soldiers -Dunne, Daniels, Brown, and another - stand guard while Cassie and Simon watch eagerly like children at a play.


With Derek

"How are you feeling?" Angie asks.

"Tired," he admits. "I just can't wait for all of this to be over."

"It will be over soon, Derek."

"You know, Angie, I envy you. I envy you because... well... you're able to stay calm. I mean, you... our spouses have practically been kidnapped from us and... you're just calm. You're able to speak clearly without any hostility in your voice. Like, how can you do that? Seriously? I am fuming right now. I've been separated from my family and my wife is down there near that freaking temple and I'm told to stay as far away as possible and not make any contact with her. How is it you're able to remain calm."

Angie grabs his hands and holds them gently. "Would you feel better if I held your hands so at least you know you have a shoulder to lean on?"

"What is your secret, Angie, please tell me."

"I..." She sighs heavily to try and find the right answer. "I conquer my anger. Si and I have our thing where, when one of us misses the other when they're outta the country, we just think of all the times we were happy. We think of what we plan to do when we get back together and we tell ourselves that... we smile. We smile not so they could come home to see us smile but to see us come home knowing that we were happy. A genuine smile, one that was there before we even saw them. Does that make sense?"

Derek laughs. "So, I make myself happy so... the next time I see my spouse, they'll know I was happy and not sad when they were gone. That doesn't make... Well... I'd be sad if Cassie thought I was depressed while she was gone so... I wouldn't want that for her so I can kinda see where you're going with this."

"Be happy. Please. Just think, our spouses are within range and once we finish up our mission, we don't have to wait long. We can finally... be together with them. Be happy."

"Oh. Yeah." He smiles. "Man, I really gotta get into this Buddhism thing."


With Burbank

After the soldiers set the charges inside the temple, Burbank approaches the coffin with Blanche and Reese standing beside him. They erect the coffin so they can get a clear view and make sure it doesn't topple over. There were two keyholes needed to open the coffin, one involved the three holy crosses combined while the other involved a wormwood plant to fit through. Burbank removes the plant from his breast pocket and inserts it into the second keyhole. The plant fits like a glove into the slot and the coffin makes a loud clicking sound like a crowbar hitting the ground.

"This is it," Burbank smiles. "Time to witness history before we wipe it away forever."

Burbank pulls open the coffin, causing smoke to emit from the coffin and rise through the temple, eventually, reaching the ceiling and the wormwood flowers.

"Oh my..." Burbank gasps as he sets his sights on the skeleton inside with a spear about six feet in height clutched in his right hand. "Is that..." His eyes land on the spear. "It is." He reaches a hand out to grab it before something falls on his head. Looking at his feet, it's a wormwood plant. Looking at the ceiling, he sees where the wormwood plant dislodged before dozens of others dislodged from the ceiling. "What's going on?"

The inside of the temple rains with wormwood plants and covers the ground completely. Afterward, steam begins to rise off the plants and slowly makes its way upwards.

Burbank inhaled the steam and convulsed suddenly. "What's going on?" he screams after feeling what felt like a stabbing pain in his stomach. He falls to his knees, coughing up blood. He puts a hand over his mouth before grabbing the coffin. The coffin topples over on its back with the door closing over it but the steam continues to emit from the wormwood plants.

Cassie stares with wide eyes as memories come back from her Noah's Ark adventure. "Poison gas. Poison gas!" It's just like the final booby trap at Noah's Ark, the one that activated if a door was opened the wrong way! But wait, the poison gas is coming from the plants? No, that's not possible. She silences his inner thoughts as she's struck with a realization.

Wait a minute... the coffin demanded to be opened with the holy cross and a wormwood plant. Wormwood plants are toxic but not like this, they don't emit some kind of poison gas. Unless the smoke steaming from the coffin causes the wormwood plants to gas the room. This means... wormwood plants are a chemical weapon but they are only a chemical weapon if exposed to a certain compound and that compound is present within the coffin. Of course. Wow, genius. The people did NOT want the holy lance to be found so they set up a trap so that no matter what, nobody gets their hands on it.

"Poison gas!" she shouts. The four soldiers turn.

"Close it up!" one of the soldiers orders. "Hurry, don't let the gas get out!"

The soldiers down below scream and beg for mercy but none of them can reach the ropes in time. Reese convulsed and falls headfirst into the ground before taking his last breath. Blanche falls to her knees and stares at the sky, reaching up, before she topples over like a Jenga pyramid. With the last ounce of strength he still had, Burbank quickly crawls over to remove a detonator from the demolition soldier.

The soldiers quickly seal up the roof hatch just as Burbank finally presses the button and sets off all the explosions.

The soldier closest to the hatch inhaled some of the gas that slipped through the cracks before it dissipated into the air. He falls to the ground, coughing as blood pours out of his mouth, nose, and eyes.

Cassie steps back and lets the soldiers do their job and looks around nervously.

"What was that?" she heard Simon ask.

"The people didn't want anyone touching the spear so... they made sure no one ever could." Cassie wipes her mouth. "Poison gas." She runs to the soldier. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Stay back," Dunne urges before using his earpiece. "Medic, we need a medic, now!"

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Dunne, Daniels, Brown, and the wounded drop dead to the ground and the two remaining people quickly take cover behind an ammo crate.

Frida steps forward and tosses away her now empty assault rifle. She sighs heavily.

"Wow, looks like Dios is on our side." She draws her two blades. "I'm glad I wasn't there to open that coffin. Man." She looks to the ammo crate where Cassie and Simon are hiding. "All of this... for nothing? You're telling me that... if we found the Holy Lance, we would've died if we opened it?" She tears up a bit. "That means... Genesis and Claude died for nothing." Her voice cracks as she whispers. "It isn't fair." She steels herself. "But that's what my hermano and I are fighting for." She takes a deep breath before screaming at the top of her lungs. "CASSIE DRAKE!"


Derek and Angie stand up suddenly after hearing Cassie's name echo.

"What was that?" Derek pulls Angie behind him. "Who's voice was that?"

"What's up, amigo!" a familiar voice shouts.

Derek takes cover - pulling Angie with him - as two gunshots ring off.

Fifty feet away, Antonio laughs as he reloads his revolvers. "Man, I guess this... is what they call the... enfrentamiento final!"


Chapter 9: Lovers

Cassie reaches for her gun before remembering how she ran out of ammo for both her assault rifle and pistol during her car chase. Upon hearing Frida pull out two blades, she felt slightly more confident. Cassie and Simon both spring into her view and enter a boxing position.

"Ready for round two, Cassie Drake?"

She shrugs. "As ready as I'll ever be. Also, just so you know, you're outnumbered two-to-one."

She simply chuckles. "I've had worst. Now come, attack me at once."

"Whatever you say." Simon charges for her first while Cassie is a step behind.

Frida dodges both attacks before getting behind Cassie and kicks her in the kidney. She knees Simon in the nuts before climbing on his back and stabs him in both shoulders with her blades. She kicks his feet out from under him before knocking him out with a kick to the chin.

Cassie springs to her feet and shoulders into Frida's gut. Frida slices he back before pushing her off. "Come on, Cassie Drake, is that all you got?!"

Cassie dives for the gun but Frida beats her to it and kicks the gun far out of reach. Frida wails at her, slicing and almost dicing Cassie to bits but Cassie is always a half-second faster than her. She grabs her hands but Frida twists out of Cassie's grip and slices her stomach. Cassie stumbles back before holding her hands up in a boxing stance.

"Come on, Cassie Drake, you gotta be faster than that!"

Frida charges for her and swings again. Cassie kicks her in the groin before getting behind her. Frida simply cuts her forearms and headbutts her off. Cassie stumbles back before giving herself some elbow room.

"Come on, Cassie Drake, show your reason you lived up to the name, your hype. Prove that you're something more than the Daughter of Nathan Drake!"

Cassie groans. "Go to Hell!"

"Don't worry, I already have a one-way ticket."

Cassie picks up a stick. "Let's see if I can hit a home run."

"All I need is two strikes and you're out."

Cassie swings the stick. Frida dodges and likes her right abdomen. Cassie shoulders into her before stepping back.

"Strike one, Cassie Drake."

Cassie feints swinging but Frida doesn't fall for it and slices her forearm. "Strike two!"

Frida charges for her but Cassie runs away this time. Yes, she drops the bat and runs away like a child running away from a bully. She leaps over several crates to give herself some more time but Frida is still hot on her trail.

"Come on, come on!" Cassie spots all the lights that were used to light up the area, transportable stage lights. The kind that photographers used at photo day at school except these were brighter and were giving off more light than needed but she already formed a plan in her mind.

Cassie picks up a rock and stops near a stage light pointing towards the roof hatch. She quickly shines the light on Frida, blinding her. Cassie charges for her and hammers the rock in her jaw. Frida falls to the ground and loses one knife. She picks herself up and spits out a tooth. "Great, looks like I get another visit from el ratoncito Pérez."

Cassie charges for Frida but she uses both feet to kick her off of her. Frida gets back to her feet and holds up her remaining light. With no time to find her other knife, she focuses on Cassie, her eyes wide like a plate.

"Come on," she taunts again. "Come on, come on."

"Like I said... working on it."

Cassie picks up another rock and makes a run for it. Frida heads in the opposite direction to cut her off. Cassie managed to pick up a second rock without Frida noticing and kept it hidden behind her back. Cassie quickly stops upon seeing Frida in front of her.

"It's like a game of cat-and-mouse."

She shakes her head. "Nah, Cassie Drake, more like a game of duck-duck-chicken."

"I like chicken and duck."

"Me too."

Frida charges for her. She swings for Cassie. Cassie dodges before swinging the rock in her right hand at Frida. In slow motion, Frida dodges the rock by jerking her head back and swings the knife again. This time, with the concealed rock, Cassie strikes the knife, breaking it in half, and follows through with hitting her in the jaw with the rock a second time. Frida falls to the ground and lands on her stomach. She gets back up suddenly before holding her hands up. She pulls out a large bowie knife. "We can do better than that."

"Don't tell me you have a machete."

Frida pulls out a machete.

"Oh crap."

Frida swings at Cassie. She gets her hands cut and drops the rocks as she winces in pain. She dodges Frida's swings and ducks. With one small but big knife in one hand and a machete in the other, Frida has the advantage of short-ranged and somewhat long-ranged attacks that force Cassie to be faster.

As Cassie dodges more of the attacks, she positions herself in front of the cable connected to one of the stage lights. She falls on the ground on purpose. Frida swings her machete at her groin. Cassie leaps back at the last second and Frida cuts into the wire. She gets electrocuted and screams at the top of her lungs. She is only able to let go once the stage light loses its power and she falls to the ground. She drops both bladed weapons and lies on the ground. She convulsed for a few seconds before picking herself up. She retrieves her bowie knife off the ground and holds it up.

"You can barely stand," Cassie notices. "You won't be able to attack from now on. You lost."

"Mierda. I won't let you win. No, I can't. Please." She steadies herself against a crate. "My brother. Mi hermano, I must win for him. Please."

Cassie stands before her. "And I must win for Derek." She punches Frida.

Frida screams and swings the bowie knife. Cassie jerks her head back before Frida's swinging arm stops suddenly.

Simon caught her arm and squeezed, forcing Frida to drop the knife. Frida kicks him in the groin, which works enough but not enough for Cassie to tackle her to the ground and punch her several times across the face.

"No," Frida screams. "NO!"

"¡Sí!" Cassie mocks.

"¡Te mataré, Cassie Drake!"

Cassie punches her across the chin, finally knocking her out.


With Derek

"Stay here," Derek orders firmly. "I got this."

"Be careful," Angie begs.

Derek pulls the hammer back on his pistol. He blindly fires.

Antonio fires back after taking cover behind a boulder. "You and me, we a-settle this for once, Derek Lowell!"

When Derek springs up, Antonio is faster and able to fire at him. Derek was forced to duck as he took a graze to the arm. He waits for Antonio to take cover before trying again. Once again, Antonio was faster and he got shot in the right abdomen. It was a flesh wound but it still hurt.

"Damn it, this guy's fast." He winces and looks over.

"You can't shoot me; I am the Flash incarnate! Not even bullets can match my speed, bastardo!"

"We'll see about that!" Derek continues to hunker down and think of a plan. "Come on, think. This guy is fast so shooting him in the open isn't an option."

So, I'll shoot him when he's in cover. He checks his vest. I still have some grenades. Okay, I have an idea.

He hands He pulls the pin on a grenade before tossing it. The grenade lands in front of the boulder and blows up. Antonio survives the blast but the shockwave blows the boulders to bits, forcing him to retreat. He fires. Anotion blindly fires behind his back as he runs for another boulder. Meanwhile, Derek runs forward and takes cover behind another boulder while firing and manages to clip Antonio in the stomach.

"Is that your plan? Blow away my cover?! Huh?!" He clutches his stomach.

"It sure is!" Derek answers. "And if I'm lucky, you're next!" He tosses another grenade.

"Hido de puta!" Antonio dives backward. The grenade cooks the rock to bits and it crumbles like a sandcastle on the beach. Antonio quickly retreats closer to the temple seat and takes cover behind a larger rock this time but not after getting shot in the right shoulder. Derek follows after him.

Antonio catches his breath and quickly reloads. "Shit. Not here." But, he must have a limited amount of grenades. Yeah, just... wear him out. He studies himself again and takes one more minute to catch his breath. "You can do this." He tries to lift his right arm before wincing. "Damn it, that hurts." He was shot in the shoulder and now, he couldn't move his arm. He curses silently before looking outward.

A grenade lands beside his feet. "Shit!" He makes a run to the right side. He waits for the kaboom but it doesn't go off. Looking back, he realizes why: Derek hadn't yet pulled the pin... which means he was doing it for a diversion tactic.

BANG!

Antonio screams at the top of his lungs and clutches his right shoulder. Now, the use of his right arm was gone. He screams at the top of his lungs. He runs off and closer to the temple once more and takes cover behind a cargo truck. Derek runs towards the boulder and retrieves the grenade.

"Not so gung ho anymore, are ya, Antoine?"

"It's Antonio, Derek Lowell, Antonio!" He bit down on his lip before dropping the gun in his right hand. With his right hand useless, he cannot use his dual-wielding abilities anymore. "Mierda. Crap. Puta. Cabron."

He hears a gunshot behind him but the bullet ricocheted off the truck on the other side of him. This prompts him to realize something: the gas tank was on the other side of the truck and given the smell of gasoline and the distinct ping of the pulling of a grenade pin, he knew what Derek was going to do.

Derek lobs the grenade at the gasoline leaking out of the gas tank he shot. Antonio sprints for his life but when the grenade goes off, it blows up the truck. Antonio is barely able to escape the blast radius but he trips on his feet and lands hard on a boulder in front of him. He bounces off and lands flat on his back, his gun glued in his hand as he screams at the top of his lungs.

Derek hears the sound of Antonio screaming and seeing as to how he is now incapacitated, he takes a moment to calm down before stepping out. He keeps his eyes peeled but jumps suddenly when he feels someone grab him from behind. It took him a moment to realize it was only Angie who came to his comforting aid.


The Hidalgo lost.

When this fact sank into Frida, it was like a bag of rocks had been stuffed down her throat. She refused to believe what happened, even as she was handcuffed to the grill of a truck. But the experience taught her that she had to accept stuff like this because no matter what, it was the irrefutable truth. She was still pissed off, however, especially with Cassie Drake and Simon Vincent standing above her.

"It's over," Cassie reminds her firmly. "It's all over, you lost. Nobody gets the Holy Lance and when we're done, we're going to blow the inside of this temple so nobody knows where the Holy Lance is located."

"Destroying history, still ace in that specialty, don't ya, Cassie Drake?" She looks at her and smiles. "Man, chica, I can see why you were called an Omega target. I underestimated you but you... you lived up to your hype. You were out of your element against someone like me yet you still managed to win. Even if Simon wasn't here to catch my hand at the end, I still would've lost." She groans as she feels her head throb. "Man, those rock attacks sure did a number on me."

"Why did you do this?"

She looks at the treasure hunter with a smile. "Why so interested, eh? Does it matter, chica?"

"What's the cartel doing in bed with Overlord?"

"The only person I'm in bed with is my brother."

"Yeah, I know. What is wrong with you? How could you love your own brother?"

Frida laughs again. "You know, I'd say... aside from the taboo, that our love is no different than your love with Derek Lowell. Am I right? You and Derek Lowell were joint at the hip, same as mi hermano, you were inseparable partners, and you eventually developed feelings for each other."

"Okay, sure, maybe but-"

"But if there's one person's feelings I'm worried about... it's our leader." She pauses as she thinks back to all the times she spent with Eric Vale. "He's not going to be happy when he hears about this. The poor man already lost so much and... once he finds out that he's going to lose four of his best friends, then... he's going to have a mental breakdown. He's... he's going to kill himself with grief. Especially after he finds out that his friends of almost twenty years died for nothing."

"You should've walked away."

Frida chuckles. "I can say the same thing about you, Cassie Drake. My brother and I were under the truck when you had your conversation with the colonel. We heard everything. We... we feel bad for you. If I was in your situation and I was separated from Antonio... I don't know what I'd do. I got a feeling what Antonio would do but... I don't want to think about it." She repositions her sitting position. "Look, if you're going to kill me, at least let me see my brother one last time. Please?"

"I'm not going to kill you. I'm not going to kill a defenseless person."

"Ahh, you still have morals. It may surprise you but our Leader has morals too. He may be a terrorist leader but he has morals." She narrows her eyes. "You know, I just remembered something. Something I saw and heard about almost twenty years ago."

"What?"

"Overlord wins. Overlord will win... in the future. There will be losses, yes, but we will win. We will get what we want."

"What are you, some kind of fortune teller?"

"No, but our dear Genesis was and he's dead." She looks at something past Cassie. "Please, let me see my brother, one last time." She gasps suddenly and smiles. "Hermano... it's you..."

Thud.

Cassie looks behind her and gasps upon seeing a badly injured Antonio slowly raising a gun at her. She screams and leaps out of the way.

BANG!

Antonio gasps with wide eyes as he stares in shock at the sight before him. Cassie and Simon become almost non-existent as he steps forward, his pain all but gone at this time. He stops right above Frida, where she now lies against the grill of the truck with a bullet in her head... fired from his gun.

"Frida." He falls to his knees and caresses her with his useless hand. "No, I didn't mean to." He loses his voice as he tears up instantly. "Frida... hermana."

He puts the gun to his head.

BANG!

Antonio falls by his sister's side with his hand landing on her lap.

Cassie covers her mouth as she steps forward to take in the sight of the two dead siblings. She's not sure why but she suddenly fears some remorse for them as she thinks of herself and Derek. What would she do if she lost Derek? She wasn't even sure if she wouldn't do what Antonio did. She had her son, yes, but Frida and Antonio only had each other. They may have been siblings but this was how strong their love was, regardless of their sibling status.

She hears another set of footsteps behind her and turns. Simon stares and feels his heart drop to his stomach. Without waiting, he runs for Angie, who runs for him as well. They meet halfway and he pulls her in for a bear hug.

"Si," Angie cries.

"My sweet angel," Simon cries.

Cassie looks past Simon and Angie to find a familiar face... one she had not seen in over a year.

She chokes as he mind processes what is happening, who is standing in front of her. Unable to hold anything back, she sobs as she walks forward.

"Cassie," Derek whispers as he approaches his wife.

"Derek." Cassie wraps her arms around him and holds him tightly, afraid that if she let go, she would never hold him again. She sobs into his shoulder and finally lets all of the emotions she's been bottling out as she cries a waterfall into his shirt.

Without wasting another word, they pull each other in for a kiss.


Chapter 10: Penultimate

October 18th

"You have no idea how much I missed you, Cassie-Blanca."

"I think I have an idea, D-Man. Well, two ideas, actually. Do you know what today is?"

"The 18th. It's... it's our anniversary."

"Five years. Can you believe it? We've been married for five years."

"I know. And... what's the traditional five-year anniversary gift?"

"Well, if it were twenty years, it would be China so working backward, ten years would be aluminum and five years would be wood."

"Wood?"

"Yeah."

"What are you wearing under that robe, Cassie?"

"I was talking to an ancient pirate a few months ago and... he told me about the movie Titanic. I told him that you're my Jack Dawson and... I know how much you love being an artist so... would you be willing to draw me like Jack did to Rose?"

"W-what?"

"You heard me. Also, I know it's not the Heart of the Ocean but sapphire is also a five-year wedding gift that's the kind of necklace I'm wearing. You up for it?"

"Y-yes, absolutely. I have a sketchpad with me. I was supposed to use it for field work but... who cares."

"Ready?"

"I will be once you drop the robe. Oh my god... okay, yeah, now I'm ready. Okay just... just..."

"Don't pass on me, D-Man."

"Heh, no promises, Cassie-Blanca."

"Happy Anniversary, Derek."


October 25th

Penthouse

Eric Vale collapses in bed, coming down from his high as he feels two pairs of hands caress his chest. He sits up and grabs his clothes. "Alexa, Vasily, what was that about?"

His wife and husband get dressed.

"Just wanted to make you feel good," Alexa simply answers. "Because... unfortunately... we've got bad news and... we wanted you to feel good, even if it was just for a second."

Eric pauses. "Let me guess... the Holy Lance mission was a bust. What happened?"

"Not sure exactly; unlike our last expeditions, there were no survivors. But we have Antonio and Frida waiting for you in the house."

Eric turns to her. "And... are they going to deliver the bad news."

Alexa nods regretfully. "Yeah."

"It's been twenty years," Vasily realizes. "Today marks the 20th anniversary of Overlord."

"I'm 55," Eric realizes with horror. "I'm an old man."

"Not yet."

Once they're all dressed, Eric heads downstairs where several Overlord soldiers wait for him, each with a varying expression. They stand and salute him with respect until Eric tells them at ease.

One of the soldiers points to the TV, which shows a channel of a live news report about the aftermath of a NATO conference.

Eric was about to say something before he spotted four coffins in the middle of the room. His eyes widen with horror. "Who are those?"

"My leader," one of the soldiers begins, "we got a problem."

"It's official," the news reporter on the TV says, "I just got word from several sources that our suspicions are confirmed. NATO has declared war. NATO has declared war on Overlord."

Eric steps toward the coffins, and any noise around him is drowned out as his mind fills with his worst fears.

"Sir, what are we going to do? If the world attacks us all at once, we won't stand a chance!"

Eric reaches over and touches the coffin on the far right. He stops when he sees two hands touch his.

It's Vito and Mira.

"Don't open it," both twins tell him, "you won't like what you see."

"I have to," Eric tells them.

The twins vanish into thin air as he reaches for the edge of the coffin and opens it.

His eyes land on what was left of Genesis's body and it takes every ounce of willpower for Eric to not succumb to his sadness.

Vasily opens up the other three coffins and one by one, Eric looks inside to see who they are. Eric felt the dam inside him on the verge of cracking upon seeing Claude Berjeau's frozen yet perished body in the second coffin and now, the dam was about to break.

When he got to the last two coffins, he hallucinated Vito and Mira their place before they vanished and revealed the dead bodies of Frida and Antonio Hidalgo.

"Eric," Vasily begins. "Don't bottle your emotions; it's okay to cry."

"Sir, what do we do about NATO?" the other soldiers ask again. "Please, we won't stand a chance in an all-out war against the world."

"Damn you..." Eric whispers under his breath before screaming at the top of his lungs.

"DAMN YOU CASSIE DRAKE!"


October 27th

It's been a week or two since they returned from Australia. After the siblings' death and the spouses' reunion, the treasure hunters caved in the wormwood temple from the inside so no one could use the map to find the Holy Lance. Afterward, they called in for extraction and were transported out of the immediate area. Afterward, when they confirmed their mission was over, a call was made.

"You can go home," the general tells them. "Enjoy your life, Cassandra."

Now, Cassie and Derek were standing outside her parents' house and looking at each other nervously. "Oh my god," Cassie straightens her hair. "I'm so nervous."

Derek tugs on the collar of his shirt. "Me too. Yeah. But... let's do it."

Cassie gulps before stepping forward. Remembering where the key was hidden under the house, she grabs it and unlocks the door. She steps in to see the living room empty and feels somewhat disappointed before hearing voices coming from one of the bedrooms. Seeing the door open, Cassie leads Derek forward and they stop in the doorway of the master bedroom where the three of them are watching an old film.

Cassie clears her throat. "Enjoying your film? Can I get you anything? Popcorn, soda, nachos, anything?"

Nate and Elena gasp before even looking and face their daughter.

"Mommy!" Evan jumps off the bed and runs for his mother. He charges into her legs and wraps his arms around her tightly. Cassie gets down and hugs her son hard, not ready to let go anytime.

"Hey," Derek begins, "any chance this can be a group hug sort of thing?"

Evan looks up. "Daddy!"

Derek laughs before kneeling before them and forms a group hug.

Evan sobs into his mother's shirt. "I missed you. I missed you so much."

Cassie cries tears of joy as she rubs her son's head. "I missed you too, my little prince." She continues to caress the back of his head. "We're back... and we're not leaving, Evan. Never. We are never going to leave. I promise."

Eventually, Nate and Elena join in on the hug and tightly wrap their arms around their children.


October 31st

"Mommy, Daddy, are you ready?!" Little Evan asks excitedly, wearing a henley, a pair of jeans, and a ring necklace. He holds a pillow case that's ready to be filled with Halloween candy.

Cassie stands over her, dressed as Lara Croft from the 2013 game version with Derek dressed as Indiana Jones.

"Aww, my little prince, you look so adorable." She kneels and kisses him on the forehead.

"Do I look like grandpa?"

"You do, you look just like him." She gestures to her outfit. "How do I look?"

"Pretty."

"Aww, thank you so much."

Derek tilts his fedora to his son. "Hey, little man, what about Daddy?"

"You look pretty too, Daddy."

He laughs. "Thank you. It's been a long time since somebody called me pretty. I mean, I'm used to being called handsome but pretty, thank you."

Nate and Elena step forward, laughing at the site.

"Isn't this adorable?" Elena begins. "Three treasure hunting icons."

"Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, and... me," Nate shrugs. "Let me get a picture."

"Definitely." Cassie picks up Evan and holds him against her chest. "Because this is the last time any of the Drakes are going to be treasure hunting."

Derek squeezes into the photo.

Nate lines the photo up of the treasure-hunting trio.

I meant what I said earlier; this IS the last time we're going as treasure hunters. We're finally free, our criminal records have been expunged, NATO has declared war on Overlord and sooner or later, they will be taken out so... I don't have to worry about them anymore. I'm finally home. I can finally be with my husband and my son. I can hold them, kiss them, and spend all the time in the world with them. I can't believe it... after all we've been through... we're finally... we're finally back home and... and I won't ever take one more moment with my family for granted.

The End of Chapter 29


Hello everyone. Man, you don't know how emotional I got writing this chapter but I'm saving the tears for when I finally make it to the end of the story. I can't believe it... I'm finally here. Just one more chapter and I can finally close the book on Cassie Drake's life. Thank you all for staying with me and reading with me, thank you.