The water of the inlet was- once the silt kicked up by the elevator's fall had cleared away- crystal clear. Which, incidentally, gave Cassie an uninhibited view of just how absolutely screwed she was.

Looping her fingers into the metal mesh door again, Cassie heaved upwards and felt the barest hint of give before again meeting the stubborn resistance of the closer mechanism. Her lungs on fire and her diaphragm starting to convulse, Cassie adjusted her stance, shoved raw knuckles further through the extruded steel, and tried again. The door rose just a little more this time, and she poured her last reserves of strength into her muscles even as they burned for lack of oxygen. Something crashed onto the top of the elevator car, denting the roof in enough that the door latch pulled away, and suddenly the door flew upwards. Not wasting a moment, Cassie dove forward and swam for all she was worth, narrowly dodging another piece of debris as it fell from the ruined structure above. The second she broke the surface, a ragged gasp wracked her body in which she inhaled almost as much salt water as she did air. Choking and coughing, Cassie reached out for the first thing she saw, pulled herself clear of the inlet, and rolled weakly onto her back. She let one arm flop over her body as she coughed up more brine from her lungs, and her head lolled back onto hard stone.

"I am… so done with water," Cassie mumbled to herself. With her eyes closed and her chest heaving, She took a few moments to rest and let fresh oxygen flood back into her system, feeding her exhausted muscles and loosening the knot her stomach had tied itself in.

Finally, Cassie opened her eyes and was met with a bare stone ceiling some twelve feet above her. A frown spread across her face. No. Not just a bare stone ceiling, she thought. Is that…? Picking herself up off the ground, Cassie stepped up to the wall of the cave she was in and lightly touched its surface. "Aztec carvings," she murmured, tracing some with her finger. Between the low light and her lack of glasses it was a bit hard for Cassie to clearly see everything around her, but as she followed the wall to her left, she could make out some columns carved with early Mesoamerican style faces, as well as a path that led upward through an opening cut in the side of the cave. "Remains of the old civilization!" she breathed. "I wonder how deep this goes? And where the heck am I?" Cassie looked down into the pool of water she had come up in and could see light coming through an opening a couple feet below the surface. "I must have accidentally swam in when I got out of that stupid elevator!" She scoffed. "Thank god it opened up into a cave and not just a bunch of tunnels."

Cassie brushed the wet strands of hair from her face and started up the path to her left, pausing to examine the columns as she passed them. "Sure would be nice to have my journal right now. Maybe my glasses. A flashlight?" She sighed and kept walking. "And as long as I'm wishing for things I don't have, maybe this could just open right into Tollan and I could discover an ancient burger stand. I'm starving!"

"Hey, I've got an idea for the sales pitch if we ever need to recruit more help."

Cutter looked over at Ian and grimaced as he pushed himself up off the ground. The three treasure hunter's flight through the rainforest as they fled Tristan's carper bombing had ended with them going headlong over the side of a cliff and sliding down a scree-covered slope. Now, as the last of the explosions faded into the distance, they were left to extricate themselves, dazed and sore, from wherever they had fallen. Ian seemed to have rolled into the depression left by the roots of a fallen tree, while Solange had ended up in the bushes, and Cutter had one leg half-buried in the gravel at the bottom of the cliff.

"Yeah?" the Englishman asked as he shook himself free and spat out some grit from his mouth. "And what would that be?"

Shaking his head like a dog to get the debris out of his curly hair, Ian said, "'Treasure Hunting: it'll make you rich, and exfoliate your skin with the finest exotic clay'." He flapped his dark grey polo shirt and then his jeans, even though their still-wet clothing made sure most of the dirt clung stubbornly to their bodies. "'Even where you don't want it or have been too afraid to try'."

"Ugh." Solange made a face at him as she wriggled free of the brush.

"No, no- I like it," Cutter mused, coughing a bit as he also tried to clean himself off. "Although I think we'd get made for false advertising. It's not like any of us have actually gotten rich yet."

"Well, maybe today's the day," Ian mused.

Solange hummed. "That's assuming that the Mirror is still intact after all that." She turned her eyes to Cutter and asked, "Care to check on that, Charles?"

The Englishman slung the backpack he was wearing down from his shoulder and unzipped the pocket. Solange leaned in closer and quirked an eyebrow. "Is that a br-"

"I brought Cassie's things for her, ok?" Cutter said defensively, scowling at her. After a moment of digging through the bag, he found the Smoking Mirror still in one piece and held it up for them to see. "There we go- not a scratch on it!"

The sunlight filtering down through southern Mexico's rainforest hit the mirror with striking effect, drawing both Ian and Solange's eyes to it. Once again, Ian couldn't help but notice the unsettling depth of the mirror's blackness and the way it almost seemed to swallow the light, and he immediately flashed back to his vision of the ouroboros in the pilothouse of the boat. He shook his head and turned away. "We need to cover some serious ground if we're going to find Cassie and get to Tollan," he stated as he raked a hand through his hair. Scanning their surroundings, his gaze fell on what looked to be a small outpost housing several crates and a jeep. "And I think I found just the thing!"

Cassie clambered over the ledge and cursed her outfit for what may have been the thousandth time that day when her booties slipped on the damp stone. "Friggin' piece of…" she muttered, swiping at the hair that had fallen in her face and getting to her feet again. The path through the cave had been going slowly but steadily upward while the remnants of Aztec and Toltec culture had been diminishing proportionally, and as she turned the corner Cassie was suddenly met with a distinctly modern hatch in the wall ahead. Quietly, she crept up and pressed her ear to the metal door to listen, but didn't hear anything on the other side. A cautious trial told her that the handle was not locked, so- biting her lip tentatively- Cassie swung the door inward and stepped through.

On the other side, Cassie was met by a damp and grimy crawl space, the walls and ceiling of which were a web of ductwork and pipes, while stagnant puddles of water dotted the ground here and there. "I must be underneath the Ocelotl base," she whispered to herself as she scanned both directions. Seeing nothing but the grungy inner workings of plumbing and electrical, Cassie picked a direction at random and started crawling.

After about a hundred yards the crawl space turned, and Cassie was faced with a cluster of low-hanging pipes that crossed overhead. With barely two feet of open path between them and the floor, Cassie rolled onto her back to slide under them and winced when she felt slimy groundwater soak into her hair and seep under the collar of her wetsuit. She heaved a long, low sigh. "Gross," Cassie muttered, then reached out, grabbed a pipe, and hauled herself forward.

She was nearly at the end of the narrow section of the crawl space when the sound of voices caught her attention. Mid-pull, Cassie turned her head and realized that her face was right next to a louvered grate. Through it, she could see into a small room where Tristan was talking to one of his men, while a line of soldiers stood at attention around them. Cassie stayed motionless and listened as the subordinate Ocelotl addressed his leader.

"…and we strafed the entire perimeter of the base and along the coast. Based on when we saw the enemy's boat arrive- and assuming they had to travel on foot once on shore- they should have been well within the area of effect."

"Excellent," Tristan said brusquely. "Take some men and search for their bodies. Find the Mirror, and if Cortès is still alive bring her to me." His face twisted into a grim smile. "…we have unfinished business."

The reporting officer nodded. "Of course, Sir."

A door suddenly burst open behind them and Cassie watched as another Ocelotl solider stalked into the room and fixed Tristan with a malevolent glare. The new arrival looked to be older than the average goon, with heavily creased features and his black hair sporting a liberal dusting of silver throughout it. "You!" the man spat, his voice dangerously low as he pointed at Tristan. "What have you done? In a single day you have caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to the infrastructure that the Ocelotl have labored for decades to establish! And all because of what? That there was a chance that you would eliminate the enemy?" The man sneered in obvious contempt. "You- you're insane!"

"Cállate!" one of the officers in the room barked. For his part, Tristan remained silent, regarding the man with something like curiosity.

"No!" the older man said, unflinching as he stared down their leader. "I've remained quiet for long enough! It's time we do something before this madman kills us all!"

A wave of shock visibly washed over the other Ocelotl in the room as the man slid a long knife from a sheath on his waist, the blade flashing as he raised it and lunged at Tristan's throat. The man uttered a furious cry as he closed the distance between them, murderous intent flashing across his face as he moved to make the fatal stroke. Suddenly a brutal crack echoed around the room, and the attacker's body was thrown like a rag doll into the corner while his knife skittered across the floor, landing just in front of the grate Cassie was behind. Standing where the older man had been just a split-second before, a giant of a thug withdrew his fist and slapped it into his meaty palm while glaring daggers at the would-be assassin. The fallen Ocelotl groaned, his broken body trembling as he lifted himself to his feet, and Cassie saw that there was blood streaming down his face from below his left eye.

Having recovered from their collective shock, the other soldiers in the room crowded in behind the brutish bodyguard as he cracked his knuckles and stepped up to finish the job. "Wait!" The command came sharp and clear, causing every person in the room to freeze and turn their eyes to its source. Tristan stood with his hand up and his gaze still fixed evenly on his attacker, his face an unreadable mask. When he was satisfied that neither side was making any motion toward the other, he continued, "He's right. For the new Sun to rise, it will always and has always required sacrifice. I am no more above that than any of you." Tristan's voice was calm, but as he began to walk slowly toward his opponent, that coiled menace that lay just below the surface began to spill over, almost tangibly chilling the atmosphere of the room. The old man was on his feet now but still looking unsteady, and when Tristan unhooked the strap from the butt of his pistol and withdrew it, Cassie saw the man flinch. For a tense moment, Tristan held the gun pointed directly at the attacker's abdomen, then with a flick of his wrist he spun the weapon around and extended the handle to him instead. "If I stand in the way of the dawn of the new age, my friend," he pointedly made eye contact and gave a smile without warmth, "then do what you will."

Looking as if he could scarcely believe what was happening, the old man reached out and grasped the gun, holding it in a shaky hand as he watched his de facto leader take a step back and spread his palms out to his sides in surrender. Cassie saw his finger move to the trigger and give the tiniest squeeze.

"If I might, though-" Tristan suddenly spoke again, as though he had just thought of it, "let me tell you one thing. These men-" he gestured to the others in the room, "they have given their lives for this. Do not let them down."

Cassie watched the weight of Tristan's words sink into the older Ocelotl. Uncertainty crept into his weathered features as Tritan's piercing, icy stare drilled into him, and a violent tremor ran up the man's arm before he dropped the gun to the floor and hung his head. An audible breath was let out from every person in the room, and the icy smile on Tristan's lips tugged upward almost imperceptibly. "Believe me," he said, "when we have Tollan, none of this will mean anything anymore."

The old man just wiped the blood from his face and looked away.

Over the hubbub of conversation that ensued as the drama passed, Tristan could be heard ordering, "Get this man bandaged up! He will go out with the teams to recover the Smoking Mirror!"

Within moments the room had cleared out except for Tristan, who walked over to pick up the knife that had fallen when his attacker had been struck down. Cassie winced and held her breath as his hand appeared just inches on the other side of the grate, and for a brief moment she saw the top of his head as he bent down and collected the weapon. Then Tristan stood again, idly turning the blade over in his hands before spinning on his heel and leaving. Cassie exhaled through pursed lips when she heard the door shut behind him.

"Jesus," she breathed. "That guy is intense!" With a shake of her head, Cassie again reached out to grab onto a pipe and pulled herself forward down the crawl space.

"Whoa whoa whoa! mate!" Cutter threw out a hand in warning.

"Yeah, I see it!" Ian downshifted the jeep and slammed on the brakes, its tires sliding in the soft mud before coming to a stop at the crest of a low hill. Less than a half mile away across a clearing, a corrugated steel wall rose nearly a dozen feet to a crown of razor wire, beyond which stood a collection of small buildings. Two Ocelotl goons patrolled the outside of the wall, each walking its length until they met at the corner and turned back.

"It's the outskirts of Tristan's base!" Solange said, leaning forward from the back seat.

"Which means we're going in the right direction," Ian said in a low voice, "but something tells me that all the important stuff is going to be a lot further in."

"Yeah," Cutter agreed. "What do you reckon that bridge over there is a better bet?" He pointed to the structure which lay on the left side of the wall and spanned a ravine, leading to the yawning entrance of a cave. "We'll have to get past these blokes first, though." The Englishman pulled out his pistol, loaded a fresh clip, and pulled the slide.

"Wait." Ian motioned for him to stop and flashed a smirk. "I've got an idea." He intently watched the two men patrolling, waiting until they were headed back toward each other before dropping the jeep back into gear and accelerating across the clearing.

"Oh, I already hate where this is going…" Cutter grumbled and grabbed onto the armrests.

The guards, who were near their meeting point at the corner, both turned upon hearing the noise of the approaching jeep. Solange let out a yelp while Ian ducked his head and stomped the gas pedal. Realizing that the vehicle was showing no signs of slowing down, the guards shouted and pulled out their rifles, unleashing a burst of gunfire. A bullet grazed the top of the windshield, and Ian cut the wheel into a slide, broadsiding both goons with the jeep and then crashing into the wall as Solange screamed. Amidst the tortured screech of bending sheet metal, they burst through and into the compound before finally stopping when they smashed the driver's side of the jeep into a building. A dozen yards away, three more Ocelotl immediately turned and locked eyes on them.

Cutter gave them an awkward smile. "Sorry mates- brakes gave out."

The goons pulled out their guns and started firing.

Cutter, Ian, and Solange all ducked, taking cover as bullets peppered the front end of their vehicle. Ian's eyes flicked over to the bodies of the goons he had run over and noticed grenades strapped their belts. "Cover for me!" he yelled to Cutter, and then dove out the side.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Cutter screamed at him.

Ian hit the ground and rolled, managing to reach the wall unharmed as gunfire rained down around him. He snagged a grenade and pressed his back against a ragged piece of corrugated steel; pulling the pin, he lobbed the grenade toward the goons with a backhanded throw.

"TAKE COVER!" one of the Ocelotl cried.

The resulting explosion made Ian's ears ring, but he got to his feet and pulled out his gun. One Ocelotl goon staggered forward out of the cloud of debris, having avoided the blast by diving behind a building; he spotted Ian and raised his rifle, but was quickly dispatched with a bullet from Ian's pistol.

Cutter and Solange picked themselves up out of the jeep, and- after making sure the area was clear of goons – the Englishman turned a skeptical eye on Ian. "Nice work and all, but next time let's take a vote on it before we smash a perfectly good jeep into some guards."

"Hey, you can't argue with results," Ian said with a grin.

After climbing through the gaping hole they had just made in the wall, the three treasure hunters crossed the bridge and cautiously approached the entrance to the cave, Ian and Cutter both holding guns at the ready as they scanned for more of Tristan's thugs. They had gone only a few yards in when Ian was alerted by the sound of footsteps, then a flash of movement in the corner of his eye, and he spun and raised his pistol.

"Whoa, easy!" Cassie's voice came to them in a nervous chuckle. "It's just me, guys!"

As his eyes adjusted, Ian saw Cassie walking toward them, her black wetsuit almost seeming to melt out of the shadows. She had both hands raised in front of her, and a pistol held loosely in the right one. "Hoooly shit!" Ian said, and exhaled through pursed lips. "Cassie! Thank god you're alive!" Holstering his gun, he stepped forward and gave her a visual once-over, frowning when he saw the long cut across her stomach. "What happened?"

"Huh?" Cassie looked down and realized what he was talking about. "Oh. One of those darts from the amphibious rifles. It's not as bad as it looks."

Ian shook his head and laughed ironically. "Here we've been, combing the island to make sure you're okay, and I almost blow your head off when we finally get to you!"

Cassie scoffed and put away her gun. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I almost did the same to you. Guess we're both a little on edge."

"You, young lady," Cutter said as he clapped a firm hand on her shoulder, "are in big trouble. Didn't your parents teach you not to get into boats with strange men?" He gave her a look of mock reproach, then cracked into a warm smile. "Glad to see you in one piece, luv."

Cassie gave a bright smile. "So have you guys found the way in yet?" she asked.

"Uh, actually," Ian motioned deeper into the cave, "we were hoping this would get us there. I'm guessing that must not be the case, though."

Shaking her head, Cassie said, "It connects to a service tunnel inside the base, but I think there's a better way in." She paused, held up a finger, and smiled smugly. "But I'll tell you how we can find a good way through!" Reaching into the front of her wetsuit, Cassie pulled out the folded map she had taken from Tristan's boat and held it up proudly. "Look what your favorite treasure hunter managed to get while she was on the bad guys' boat!"

Solange's eyes widened. "A map?"

"…that shows the whole Ocelotl base and the surrounding island," Cassie confirmed, raising a self-satisfied eyebrow. "You can thank me later," she joked.

"Alright, alright," Cutter rolled his eyes. "If you're quite done blowing your own trumpet, let's have a look at this thing somewhere we can see." Cutter took the map from Cassie and handed it to Ian, who turned and walked out of the cave with Solange close behind. As Cassie moved to follow them, Cutter stopped her and slid her backpack off his shoulder. "Thought you might be about ready to get out of that suit," he explained. "So, I grabbed you some clothes."

Cassie threw her head back and gave a sigh of relief as she took the pack from him. "You're an absolute lifesaver, Charlie!" Laughing, she added, "You have no idea how hot this thing is!"

Cutter looked suddenly awkward and scratched at the back of his neck. "Yeah, so you know, I just kind of grabbed the first thing I saw as far as," he gestured vaguely, "all that. Just didn't want it to seem, you know… creepy."

It took Cassie a second to catch on. "Oh!" she said, "Yeah, of course."

Cutter nodded. "Right."

"Okay."

"Good."

A brief silence stretched between them, and Cassie found herself biting back laughter at the Englishman's discomfort. Clearing his throat as he tried to find his poise again, Cutter rocked on his heels and jutted a thumb over his shoulder. "Right. Well, I'll just be out there."

Stepping out into the sunlight, Cutter saw Ian and Solange standing around a crate with the map spread on top of it, hunched over as they examined it. As he joined them, he saw Ian's eyes flick up to where the backpack had been and then over to the cave entrance. A moment later, Ian straightened up and announced casually, "I just need to-"

"Yeah, you're stayin' right here mate," Cutter interrupted him, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him back.

Using the privacy of the cave to change into the light pink tank top and blue jeans Cutter had brought for her, Cassie discarded the wetsuit in a corner and then strapped on the gun and knife she had taken from Tristan's men. Lastly, she reached into the backpack, withdrew her glasses from their case, and put them on. "It's about time," she said. "I finally feel like myself again!"

As Cassie approached the place where her three partners were huddled around the map, Ian looked up at her, his eyes gleaming. "You are definitely MVP, showing up with this! We've been shooting in the dark until now!"

Cassie smiled back and dropped the backpack on the ground as she joined them. "I guess that means you were able to figure out where we need to go?" she asked. "I've been too busy dodging bullets and escaping from ships to be able to look over it yet."

"I think so," Solange said to her, looking equally as enthused as Ian was. She tapped a slender finger down on a spot on the map shown as a sort of circular clearing in between the Ocelotl complex and a small mountain. Taking a closer look, and with her glasses back on, Cassie saw that the word "santuario" was written there. "It's a sanctuary, or a shrine," Solange translated before Cassie even got a chance to ask. "It would stand to reason that it's a very likely place to find the entrance to Tollan."

A shrine… The word jogged Cassie's memory, pulling her back to the conversation she had overheard between Tristan and the pilot onboard his ship. Her fingers found her ouroboros ring and rolled it between her fingers as she spoke up, "When I was escaping from the boat, I heard Tristan saying something to one of his guys. Something about the moon, and that it would happen tonight." Cassie paused and looked over at Solange. "…he mentioned Cortès, too."

Cutter's eyes narrowed in thought. "Tonight's a full moon," he stated.

"And," Ian interjected, holding up a finger, "the Smoking Mirror was a scrying implement. It makes sense that a night when the moon is brightest would be the perfect chance to use it."

"Which means we don't have much time," Solange concluded gravely, reaching down to pick up the backpack with the Mirror that Cassie had set down. "If we're going to get there on time, we need to move quickly. And preferably silently."

Cassie cast a look toward the horizon, where the sun was beginning to dip and the first hint of amber was leaking into the late afternoon sky. "She's right. The rainforest will make going around the perimeter slow and dangerous, especially as night sets in. We'd better find a way in and cut through the base."

"Easy-peasy, luv," Cutter said. "There's a hole in the wall just around the corner there. About the size of a jeep."

Her brows furrowing as she gave him a quizzical look, Cassie drawled, "… 's a bit weirdly specific, but ok."

"Hey, don't ask what you don't want to know."

Ian caught Cassie's eye and shrugged. "It worked. Like- really well."

Cassie chuckled.

They started walking, and Cassie worked on rolling up the map as they crossed the bridge to the compound. "Hey, Solange!" she called over her shoulder as she finished and drew a rubber band over the document. "Can you put this thing in the backpack? I really don't want to-"

She trailed off as she turned and failed to see the young Spanish woman, who she had only moments before been bringing up the rear of their group. "Solange?" Cassie called a bit louder. No one answered, and Cassie's eyes widened in panic.

"Solange!"

A.N: Wow, this chapter got stuck in editing hell for a bit. Lol, sorry bout that! Anyway, it's probably still not perfect, but I needed to try to keep the momentum going, so here we are! Hope everyone has a great week!