Helluva Tomb Raider

by ghostdog2AD

15 years of hiding, Antauri was hiding in the human realm and living with the Croft Family. He had two new jobs, and promised to watch over his adopted sister, Lara Croft. However, he helps her on the expeditions that will lead them into danger.

12. Chapter 12

This is the 12th chapter. I don't own the series of Helluva Boss or the game of Tomb Raider.

Master of Luis: Agreed. Leave it to those idiots doing Mathias' dirty work.

Saving Grim

After they make camp for a break, it's been cut short when they heard the Solarii chasing after the escaped prisoner. They are heading down the steps which led them into the waters, waded through towards the steps. As they crossed through the threshold, a certain familiar voice reached their ears that made their blood freeze.

"Get yer hands off me, ya bloody bastards!" The voice of Grim shouts while fighting the Solarii.

"Oh my god, Grim!" Lara gasped, recognizes that voice.

"Hurry! We gotta help him!" Antauri urged, taking off in a sprint in the direction of Grim's voice with Lara and three imps right on his heels.

"Hey! Need some help up here!"

"A prisoner's escaped!"

"Come on, let's go!"

They found him singlehandedly fighting off some Solarii goons while some are going up the ladder to help.

"Fuck you! Boil yer head!" Grim said, beating the Solarii.

"Easy, old man! Take it easy!"

"Will you just kill the some of a bitch!"

"Oh, you want some of this too? Ya fuckin' scunner!" Grim said, finishes them off.

Hearing Grim fighting and tossing the Solarii down to the ground, killing them. Blitzo, Millie, and Moxxie were impressed the Scotsman actually able to beat them.

"For an old man, I'm impressed." Blitzo said with an impressed whistle when Grim called out upon seeing them.

"Lara, Carl! Up here!" Grim said.

"Grim, you escaped!" Lara cried in relief.

"They couldn't hold me." Grim told her. "Get up here, we need to get to the others."

"Not gonna ask how, but it's good to see you're alright, Grim." Antauri (Carl) called.

"Yeah, yeah. Just get yer arses up here!" Grim said but noticed those imps. "And who are they with ya? They look like some wee devils!"

Antauri and Lara just chuckled while the three imps felt offended, but brushed it off when Millie, Moxxie, and Blitzo climbs up first.

"Well for your information, we're imps, old man!" Blitzo retorted with a glare. "And we were fighting those dipshits to help you out!"

"Really? Did ya took 'em down with pitchforks and grabbin' yer torches?" Grim jokingly asks as the three imps are at the top next to him.

"Long story, but we're heading up!" Antauri (Carl) shouts as he and Lara started up the ladder, but hadn't gotten far up when Grim called again, this time in warning.

"Watch it, you two! You've got company!" Grim shouts, but at the same time, Solarii yelled.

"Light them up!"

Antauri seized Lara around the waist and pulled her down from the ladder as they narrowly dodged a bundle of dynamite.

"They got fuckin' dynamite...take cover!" Grim shouts as they hide and the dynamite explodes, destroying the ladder while the Solarii shouts.

"Outsiders, give it up!"

"Not a chance, you bastards!" Lara growled, readying her bow.

"You morons just don't know when to quit!" Antauri shouts, pulling his pistol.

Moxxie took out the men, who tries to sound the alarm, with his sniper while both Lara and Antauri took out the men on the lower level of the neighboring structure. Things got heavier when the Solarii started coming to them. Antauri then turns his form into a hellhound and went at the hand-to-hand combat while Lara starts using her assault rifle, tried to pick off the men still trying to come to them. Blitzo, Millie, and Moxxie fired their guns at the Solarii, Antauri used his knife and claws to kill them which it was easier for them. As Antauri snapped his neck, Grim came down what was left of the ladder.

"Lara, Carl, you're both alive!" Grim said in relief but noticed his true form. "What in a bloody hell are ya, lad?!"

"I told you it's a long story." Antauri told him, changes the subject. "But never mind that, where are the others?"

"Still locked up inside...but I know where they are." Grim answered. "Get up here and we'll get 'em out together."

"We can't climb there from here." Lara revealed.

"The dynamite blew apart the bottom section of the ladder!" Antauri adds.

"Ahh, damn it!" Grim growled but thought of an idea. "Well, they got some kinda setup haulin' cargo. Maybe you can use it to come around the other side?"

"Alright, we're on our way." Lara replied.

"Be careful, Grim. Try to stay out of trouble til we regroup." Antauri called to him. "You guys keep him company when we get there."

"Sure thing, sweetie." Millie replied. "But be careful."

They then backtracked while Grim decided to ask three imps about the white hellhound he just saw, which both Millie and Moxxie tells the Scotsman about him. After both Lara and Antauri looted the bodies and found the journal, the white hellhound fires his trench shotgun at the barricade, and she disables the alarm. They then ran into that hole, down the stairs which they noticed an artifact that happens to be Commander's Inro.

"This inro was probably used by a military commander to carry official orders and seals." Lara muttered.

They then decided to head back into shanty town by scrambling up to the wall, climbing up and about to advance further when three guards were revealed from above.

"The outsiders are here! Warn the others!"

"Fucking hell, they're everywhere!" Antauri growls in annoyance as he pulls his pistol while Lara brings out her assault rifle, making quick work by firing them and killed them to their heads. The fourth Solarii charges to the edge when the white hellhound shot him in the head. "We need to get to cargo, there's a makeshift windmill over there. Come on!"

Lara replied with a nod as they ran to the wall, scrambling up to the top when more of the guards are heard from the other side. They readied their firearms as the Solarii revealed themselves with firearms of their own along with dynamites. Antauri fires his pistol at the first in the head from the railing, Lara fires her rifle at the second who's about the throw a dynamite, which kills him, and it explodes. She then fires at the third one, killing him.

Antauri then loots more for the materials and then he and Lara jumps over to the makeshift mill. Four more guards are charging after them while aiming at them, which Antauri and Lara aren't given them a chance as they exchange gunfire. The Solarii were quickly being killed and they looted their bodies.

They then decided to split up to find a way to get to either the cargo bay or the tomb since they haven't got the chance to do that. Antauri fired the barricade and found an artifact what's known as the Scribe's Inro.

"This gold lacquered inro contains writing implements and dried ink. Likely the possession of a court scribe or a historian." Antauri muttered, then decided to find Lara who's able to find the stairs that leads her down as she leaps over to the ground. "Find anything?"

"No, but we need to get Grim before the Solarii finds him and the others." Lara answered with worry as he catches up to her.

"And we will, Blitz, Millie, and Moxxie are with him. They'll be able to keep him company and take down those idiots." Antauri assures. "Come on, we got to find the tomb."

Lara responds with a nod as they look around at the makeshift building. Antauri was able to find a journal from underneath the stairs, which it didn't surprise him that it's Mathias' He then reads it, telling him about the Solarii grew strong in number which he highly doubts it and Mathias discovered everything he required to move his plans forward and time for them to move inland. They build the city high up in the mountain and around the old palace in order to protect themselves from the Oni and Mathias can access all points on the island. Mathias must be prepared to capture anyone who comes and seeking a key to escape Yamatai.

'Well, they found Sam...and the fire ritual would kill her...and Himiko takes her place...Shit!' Antauri mentally cursed when Lara managed to find him.

"I found something." Lara told him, showing him the Jade Drinking Vessel. "It's a ceremonial drinking vessel from the Song Dynasty. Beautiful craftsmanship."

The white hellhound agrees with her, then entered inside of the cave that looks like a makeshift smelting room. Lara fires her arrows to burn the nets and the small salvage crates falls into the ground which they're able to gather some to salvage. They then ran up the stairs, balance themselves to the ledge, leaps up to the platform, and then out of the cave back into the shanty town. Then, they noticed some paintings at the cave as they entered inside.

Lara then lights the torch to lead the way, but she and Antauri slides down the slope which lead them to the ledge and causing them to grab in time. They start shimming their way to the wall, climbing up and start walking to the wooden pole to balance themselves. She then extinguishes the flame, and they ran into the crack big enough to get them through, then saw a tomb known as the Chamber of Judgement.

"Some kind of workshop." Antauri muttered which Lara agrees.

"The Solarii have completely taken over the old places of this island." Lara adds when the white hellhound noticed a makeshift seesaw.

"We use the seesaw to get you to leap to the walls." Antauri told her. "We'll need four gas canisters to do that, and I'll hold it until you get there."

Lara nods with the plan as she tosses the first to the makeshift seesaw. Antauri leaps up to the makeshift platform which crumbled to the ground, then grabs the second gas canister and tosses it to the second makeshift platform. Lara fires her rope arrow at the broken wooden pole that has a tire at the end, swings it and letting it destroy the third makeshift platform. She then grabs the third gas canister and tosses it to the platform, causing it to crumble and the canisters down to the ground. Antauri then tosses all three of the canisters to the makeshift seesaw to make it heavy enough to stand up. He then stands on the seesaw and Lara leaps to the wall, then uses her axe to climb up and then leaps to the ladder, climbing up to the tomb.

"All of these places are built on ancient ruins." Lara said, then opens the chest which made her gasp in awe.

She then jumps from wooden planks to planks, then slides down to the pipe and into the ground. They decided to make camp for a break, while Antauri upgrades his pistol with the 'Burst Fire Mod', a component that allows him to fire three rounds.

"Do you think Grim takes it after...you know?" Lara asks, worried about a certain Scotsman.

"He'll probably think it's all fantasy and made up, but with Millie and Moxxie shedding some light, he might believe Hell is a place along with Heaven." Antauri told her.

"I suppose, but it'll be dangerous if he's planning to be there." Lara said. "Though, he probably wants somewhere quiet whenever he sails somewhere."

"That's mostly his idea for his quiet retirement, but with him being dragged into this mess thanks to us, he'll punch Roth right in the mouth." Antauri remarked with a chuckle.

"You're never going to let it down, do you?" Lara asks with a giggle.

"Nope." Antauri replied simply. "Come on, we've got to catch up with the others."

Lara nods with an agreement as they took good minutes to get out of the tomb and back at the shanty town. They ran back to the multiple cargo riggings.

"After all this is said and done, I'll be needing a few days off and a vacation." Antauri remarked as they climbed on one of the cargo transports and use it as a makeshift car.

While riding on the cargo, they were nearing the get-off, Lara called out for Grim.

"Grim?" Lara called her.

"Aye, and so are those red lads here!" Grim called back as he and three imps walk into the view. "They told me about you, lad. That you're a hellhound, that is."

"I guess the secrets outs." Antauri said. "Yeah, and my actual name is Antauri. I'm pretty sure they give you the details!"

"Aye, a lot of details!" Grim replied as the two jump to the near-off and to the wooden floor. "They even fought thought crazed sons of bitches."

"Yeah, these guys thought numbers are better and all that bullshit. We showed them hell!" Blitzo adds with a smirk. "Anyway, find anything when you're in that shitty town?"

"We found a tomb and...another one of Mathias' journal. It's dated back in 1997." Antauri explains as Lara makes her way to Grim and three imps, climbing on the rope. "Bet you guys had fun dealing with Solarii."

"Oh yeah, Grim sure put up a fight." Millie replied while Antauri climbs on the rope.

"And sure give him a Glasgow Kiss, that one." Grim adds with a chuckle. "Nice of ya to join us."

"And speaking of which, I found this journal. It's like you said, it's Mathias." Moxxie told the white hellhound, extends it to him.

Antauri then takes it and began reading it, telling him about Mathias' patience has been rewarded. He had lieutenants and enforcers, mentioning about the storms brought him the men he needs to begin the Solarii Brotherhood. Strong of body, weak of will. They were broken in the storms, weak and vulnerable and Mathias raised them again. Now they serve him, and through Mathias...Himiko, the Sun Queen. The Solarii Brotherhood must grow by recruiting as many as they can, draft laws, create a code for them to live by, and they will build for the Sun Queen while Mathias searches for the key.

"Son of a bitch!" Antauri cursed angrily, threw the journal.

"So that's how the Solarii Brotherhood were founded, Mathias just fashioned himself a cult of true believers." Lara gasps.

"Goddamnit, that fucking asshole just made everything into a real shithole into this fucking shit city and turned into a fucking hunting season!?" Blitzo yells angrily. "Damn! Just how fucking insane can he really get! Fuck me and my little red hole!?"

After a few minutes of calming themselves down, they began to cross over to the cliffside with Grim holding on to Antauri's back. They had barely started when two more men came out of nowhere.

"There they are! Cut the line!"

"Fuck off, bitch!" Blitzo shouts, fires his pistol at the first one in the head and then, the other. "Double tap, ya cock-sucking fuckers!"

"Blitz, hurry up! We're at the cliff!" Antauri shouts after putting Grim down to the ground with Lara, Moxxie, and Millie next to them.

Blitzo then starts crossing over to the cliff, able to catch up when Roth calls through the radio.

"See you made it with Grim, guess I won't need to kill those bastards." Roth said.

"Guys, over there." Millie said, points out where Roth and Jessop were.

Grim then takes the radio from Lara.

"Roth! When this is all over, I'm going to punch ya square in the mouth for draggin' us here!" Grim shouts which made Roth chuckle.

"Told you." Antauri playfully said to her, earned a chuckle from Lara.

"And you never told me that our friend was actually a hellhound known as Antauri!" Grim continued. "I'll make it a double for lyin' to me, Roth!"

Roth figured that the three imps are with him, telling the Scotsman about the white hellhounds backstory and how he ended up on Earth for the past years.

"I had a reason, and you wouldn't believe any of us about Antauri. Or Hell." Roth points out. "But we don't have time for argue, we still need to get to the palace. Just make it count. We'll raise glass when we get out of here."

Lara, Antauri, Blitzo, Moxxie, and Millie looked towards the palace.

"We're going to try and get close." Lara told him. "Can you give us cover?"

Roth then looks through the sniper scope and noticed the bridge covered with Solarii, which it'll be a difficult task to get there.

"Yeah. I've got clear sight with my rifle until the palace wall. Jessop found another rifle; he'll provide me some assistance." Roth replied. "But those three will have to stay with Grim until me and Jessop get to them."

"Okay." Lara replied with a small nod.

They walked the other way, going higher up on the structure they currently stood on when a transmission came through the radio that made Antauri's blood run cold.

"Rescue chopper N888RC responding to SOS, inbound from freighter Trinity."

'No, no, NO! They can't come here! They'll end up like the others! This can't be happening!' Antauri mentally shouted with his color drained from his face, wanting to know someone else called for help.

"This is Conrad Roth of the Endurance. Do you copy?!" Roth responds, only in static. "Lara, Antauri, Grim, Blitz, Millie, Moxxie, did you hear that? A rescue helicopter is inbound!"

"That's great news, Roth! Set up a signal. I'm going in for Sam and the others." Lara said in relief, but missing Antauri and three imps looks of disbelief.

"But Lara, maybe I should-"

"This isn't like the pilot, Roth." Lara cuts him off. "I got Sam and the others into this mess; I'm getting them out."

"NO!" Antauri exploded, finally had enough as he snatched the radio from Lara, nearly screaming into it to Roth. "Roth, how the hell is this a good thing?! You saw what happened to the plane! A helicopter will be no different and all we're doing is stranding more innocent people on this damned island to die! Hasn't there already been enough death! We lost our crew of Endurance! I will NOT sit on the fucking sidelines and watch more people be slaughtered like pigs here!"

Antauri was panting by the end of it while Lara looked on in shock. Antauri was truly reaching his limits by this point, and she hadn't truly realized before this moment how much this nightmare had really been affecting him. Blitzo, Millie, and Moxxie couldn't blame him since everything on this island is a deathtrap and watching the crew of Endurance being hunted and killed was the last straw. Even Grim didn't like the idea, but with options limited, they had to at least try to call for help and get off this island.

Roth was silent for several moments and Lara wondered if the transmission had been cut at some point to where he hadn't heard the white hellhound at all. But after another tense moment of silence, Roth spoke.

"Antauri, I understand how this must be for you. Trust me, I don't like the possibility of this failing again, either." Roth told him. "But if we don't at least try, then all of us will end up dead as well. I don't want anyone else to die anymore than you do, but they will the longer we spend on this godforsaken island. I know the possibility, but for the sake of those still alive, we've got to try."

Antauri wasn't at all pleased of Roth's response, but he did sort of understand. Clenching his fist around the radio, he handed it back to Lara and stepped outside facing the palace bridge. The anger and frustration inside him were burning furiously like fire. He felt as though it wouldn't get better unless he went on a killing spree, just slaughtering the Solarii like animals they were just like they'd done to the people.

'These motherfucking bastards WILL PAY! EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!' Antauri mentally growls with pure anger, wanted to make Mathias and Solarii pay.

That's it for the chapter.

Here are the journals about Mathias.

Belief

24 October 1994

My patience has been rewarded. At long last, I have my lieutenants, my enforcers of the way. The storms brought me exactly the men I need to begin building the Solarii Brotherhood. Strong of body, weak of will. They were broken in the storms, weakened and vulnerable. And I raised them up again. Now they serve me, and through me...her. The Sun Queen. She is showing me the way. She has always shown me the way. I cannot deny when I have seen. And soon, neither will they. She is everywhere on this island! But...the Solarii Brotherhood must grow. We will recruit as many as we can. I will draft laws, create a code for them to live by. And they will build for the Sun Queen while I search for the key.

Obsession

21 January 1997

The Solarii, my warriors of the sun, they have grown strong in number. And I have discovered everything I require to move my plans forward. It is time for us to move inland. We will build our city high up in the mountains, around the old palace. From there we can protect ourselves from the Oni guardians and I can access all points on the island swiftly. I must be prepared to capture anyone who comes to this place. I know now what I seek. The key to escaping this place...and perhaps much, much more. It may take years, but I will find her.