Victims of Circumstance: Chapter 4 – Good News and Bad News

Captain Viktor Zaitsyev

Viktor thought that when he spoke to Michael and Ivan that they would be able to shed some light on this place, and the fucked-up situation that they had found themselves in. Michael and Ivan's answers only confused Viktor more, not because of any lack of clarity on their part, but because he was finding it difficult to process what they were saying. It would be easy to dismiss what they were saying as ramblings of broken men, but Viktor knew they were being straight with him. Worse, he'd seen some of what they'd talked about firsthand.

When Pavel and Artyom had brought Anastasia back, Viktor lost any hope that there would be any real answers when he saw what kind of a state she was in. Battered, bruised, beaten, starved and traumatized to hell. So, when she came up to him as he sat toward the front of the aircraft, wrapped in a blanket, still sniveling and a mess, he was more than surprised. "Am I bothering you, Kapitan Zaitsyev?"

Viktor was caught off guard, and so he hesitated for the briefest of moments before he shook his head, and then nodded at the seat opposite him. Anastasia nodded weakly and then sat down, drawing the blanket around her even tighter. It was warm on the island, but physical and emotional trauma like what she'd been through did weird things to your body. "Nyet," he said at last. "Just thinking is all." He put on his most reassuring smile and added, "You look better."

Anastasia nodded weakly, "If it wasn't for your men, Captain, I'm sure I'd be dead. Or worse." Viktor had tried his best not to think about what it was that they had in store for the poor woman. He tried very hard not to think about what had happened to the rest of the survivors of the crash.

"Try not to think about that, you're safe now, we're going to get you out of here," said Viktor, confidently. Anastasia nodded, but she looked far from convinced. Viktor thought of something to tell her to reassure her, but nothing came to mind. How he wished either Tyoma or Vasya were here. They'd be handling this so much better than he was.

Before either of them could say anything, he heard the sound of several pairs of boots from the direction of the cockpit. Looking up, he saw Mikhail and Ivan exiting, and Subotin standing expectantly in the doorway. Viktor knew that Colonel Hinton was waiting to speak to Anastasia. "Anastasia Mikhailovna, there's an American Colonel who wants to talk to you about what happened. If you're not feeling up to speaking with him, that's alright."

Anastasia shifted her gaze to the floor of the aircraft. About a minute passed as she sat presumably in thought and as they waited, eagerly, for her response. "I'll talk to him," she said weakly, barely audible. It took her another moment to attempt to stand up, with Ivan helping her to her feet.

"Thank you, Ms. Fedorova," said Viktor with every ounce of sincerity that he could muster. She nodded weakly as Ivan helped her to the cockpit. Ivan returned a moment later and took a seat next to Mikhail. "What did Colonel Hinton talk about?" asked Viktor, curious about what the American wanted to know.

"Same govno he probably asked you, tovarisch Kapitan. How many of us were there, what happened, and how many are left alive now according to my best estimates," answered Ivan. "I like this Hinton guy, but I think that someone above him is pressuring him to see if we'll give different answers." Ivan sighed, and then said with plenty of anger edging into his voice, "If he's rough on Anastasia, I'm going to break his face when I see him."

"If he's lucky," corrected Mikhail. They were both fiercely protective over Anastasia, and at least one of them had made sure to check in on her on the hour, every hour. Viktor chuckled, somewhat uneasily. "Don't worry, tovarisch Kapitan, neither of us want to be arrested after all this." Viktor nodded, but he felt their pain, and he knew exactly what they were talking about. Someone in the US command structure in Japan was being extra paranoid about their presence here.

"Fucking Americans are convinced we're making this shit up. What we really need is one of the crew from that other ship to talk to them," spat Ivan, the frustration and anger on the man's face plainly visible to Viktor. Viktor sighed, he was sure that in even in that case, the Americans would still be suspicious. Or rather, whoever this bastard in charge was. Typical fucking Americans, blame and accuse Russia for everything. He sighed. At least they had Hinton on their side.

"We have to work with them if we're going to get off this island without causing an international incident, tovarisch," said Viktor. Ivan grunted. He knew that was the case, but he didn't like it one bit, and he made that clear as day to the veteran SSO operator. Before the conversation could continue any longer, Subotin appeared in the doorway, the sound of his boots on the deck preceding his arrival. He looked at Viktor pointedly. Viktor sighed again. It was his turn now.

He walked into the cockpit, where Anastasia was sitting at the radio operator's station. The headset was on the desk in front of her. Viktor took off his helmet and put on the headset. "This is Captain Zaitsyev, over." He wasn't sure what he was going to hear from the other end, but braced for it, nonetheless.

"Son, pardon my language, but what the ever loving fuck is going on there? Cults, sacrifices and local legends about a fucking Sun Queen? And…fucking demons? Over," incredulously asked a voice he recognized to be Colonel Hinton's. The 'over' was added as barely an afterthought. Viktor hadn't heard reports that matched with Anastasia's stories from the others, but he knew that there had to be some truth to what she was saying.

"Colonel, I know it sounds farfetched, but based on accounts from survivors and reports back from my own men, it seems that the local survivors have formed a cult based around the worship of the 'Sun Queen'. They believe that if they sacrifice the right woman to her, she'll be free and will lift the storms, over," explained Viktor, deciding to come out with the entire story, seeing no reason not to at this point.

"How in God's name have we not dealt with this island before, son? How the fuck did we just ignore this shit? Over," asked a still very incredulous Hinton. Viktor empathized with him. A few days ago, if someone had asked him about a mysterious island in the Dragon's Triangle, he would have shrugged his shoulders and told them the truth; that he didn't know anything whatsoever about this place.

"Unexplained obscure weather phenomenon, I believe there's another one just like this closer to home for you, over," replied Viktor, talking about the Bermuda Triangle. It occurred to him that he knew next to nothing about that as well. For good reason, he decided. After this place, the less he knew about this sort of freaky nonsense, the better.

"Good point. Listen, you've secured most of the Endurance crew and you've got enough survivors from the yacht crash. It's time to let the cavalry do the work, son. Let me and my marines help you finish this up. Over," replied Hinton, with the same sincerity he spoke with when they first spoke. Viktor did some quick math in his head. The American Wasp-class amphibious assault ship had a speed of forty one kilometers per hour. It was approximately one thousand two hundred fifty one kilometers from Japan to the Dragon's triangle. That would still mean it would take a total of thirty hours for Hinton and his men to get here. In that time, they'd either have the situation well in hand, or they would all be dead. He saw no other recourse.

"Bring plenty of booze when you come, Colonel. Some good food too, maybe some cheeseburgers. Over," said Viktor, deadpan. He heard chuckles from Subotin, and there was even a smile on Anastasia's face. Hearing that help was on the way had lifted their spirits. Viktor knew that there was a lot more to get done in the meantime, they had to salvage this situation somehow and get things in order. As much as he hated even thinking about this, they needed to find the source of these storms and put an end to them before the Americans got here, and they had a little over thirty hours to do that.

"Hah. Son, I think you and yours have earned the tab you're going to raise. I better get my boys and girls moving, you just hang in there, Captain. Hinton out," came Hinton's reply, and the line went dead. Viktor took off the headset and put his helmet back on.

Subotin looked at him expectantly, "Nu [8], tovarisch Kapitan?" Ivan and Mikhail were both standing in the doorway as well now.

Viktor smiled, but it wasn't entirely one of mirth, "The Amerikantsy will be here in thirty hours, give or take. Till then, we've got a lot of work to salvage this situation. So, sit down, we have a lot to discuss."

Senior Lieutenant Alyena Davydova

"So, moy drugoy [1], I've got three bits of interesting information here," declared Pavel, holding up what looked like two ageing pieces of paper. One was notably far older than the other two and was barely in one piece. They were all sitting around the various bits of equipment and other articles of interest that they'd secured during their attack on the base. "Two of them look like a journal or something."

"Well, davai, don't keep us waiting," said Illya, inspecting one of the AEK-971s, pausing to look at Pavel expectantly. Alyena was interested to see just it was that they'd found too, maybe it'd shed some light on this fucked up island.

"Well, this one is titled 'Alone'. Signed by some urod named Mathias. He talks about the storms. Now the part that actually worries me is whatever he's writing about sounds a lot like what happened to us. Sudden storm that came out of nowhere. Except this guy seems to think that the storms are alive, what an idiot," said Pavel, laughing at whoever wrote the journal entry. The smile on his face faded and frown formed in its place, "Wait…wasn't this 'Sam' taken by some guy named Mathias?" Pavel looked up from the journal entry and at the rest of them, "This is dated 1982…I mean, shit, he certainly seems old enough based on description alone."

They were all silent for a good minute, before Illya spoke up, snorting, "What are you saying, Pasha, that this island is haunted?" Illya glanced at Artyom, who had a very serious expression on his face. "What, you don't really believe that, do you, Tyoma?"

Artyom looked straight at Illya, "Haunted, possessed, who knows what. All I know is that there is no scientific or logical explanation for this bullshit. What the blyat else is going on here?" Illya looked like he was about to argue, and Alyena knew that it was time to step in.

"It doesn't make sense," she cut in. "We just need to focus on our objectives here. Find that girl, kill these bastards, and get off this damn island. Save the speculation for when we're off the island and relaxing on a nice beach in Sochi." That seemed to mollify the others. "Read the next one, Pasha."

Pavel nodded, picking up the next entry in front of him and then did as he was told, "This one is signed by some guy called Nikolai, but don't get your hopes up, sounds like he is one of these local bastards. He talks about how he works for Mathias, even though by his own admission he knows that the man is nuts. They control the guns, kill those that don't agree with them, and take anything that arrives on this island." Pavel tossed the document, clearly frustrated. "Well, looks our suspicions are now confirmed by this yobany urod's diary. I don't think anyone we haven't found yet is alive, and if they are, I don't think that it's worth rescuing them."

"Pasha, people are pushed to do extreme things in extreme situations. People make the wrong decisions out of desperation. We're not judge, jury and executioner. If they prove to be hostile, then and only then do we kill them," she said, looking at Pavel, who was fixing her with an incensed glare. "I'm talking about the survivors we're supposed to find, not the other bastards. Feel free to shoot them."

"Fine, if we find any of the survivors of the yacht who've decided to join the cult of madness and pillaging, then I suppose we can spare the ammunition if they decide they're going to do the same," he said, his words dripping with sarcasm and with a slight tinge of bitterness in his voice. Alyena knew that Pavel didn't care for the sentiment that good people did bad things in extreme situations. She agreed with him, but their orders were clear, and she knew that three survivors wasn't entirely an ideal number to bring back compared to the number of people that were on the yacht.

Silence had set in for a moment before Artyom broke it, "What about the third one? What's that one about?" The third was by far the oldest document, and Alyena was also quite curious to find out just what it said. How long ago were people washing up on the island?

"Shit, I don't know. It's in Japanese. I don't even speak Japanese," said Pavel, turning it around so that they could see it. It was indeed in Japanese. She nodded in understanding. "Tell you what, though, I bet that someone on the Endurance crew does." The rest of them gave him agreeable looks, and so, Pavel took particular care to put that document in first.

"Well, now that's sorted out. Illya and I will take first watch. Pasha and Tyoma will take second. Sasha can take third, and Lara if she's up to it," said Alyena, looking around at those present to see if they had any complaints. No one spoke up, and so she nodded. Flicking the safety on her Vintorez off, she walked off from the gathering toward the northern perimeter of the base.

Alyena made her way up onto one of the walkways, taking a look over the base. From where she was, it was easy to see Sasha and Lara. She was happy for Sasha, ever since the first disastrous attempt he'd made at seeing someone, she hadn't really seen him give it another attempt. Lara seemed to be equally interested in him. She had a good feeling about the two of them. She smiled before turning her attention elsewhere, resisting the urge to watch over her best friend and maybe give him some tips over the radio.

At least they'd managed to get something in exchange for the ammunition and effort it took to take this place from the Solarii. At least they knew for sure that this place had been claiming aircraft and ships for a very long time now. What she didn't understand still is what this Mathias guy did to get all these people to follow him?

In their case, it was suicidal almost. So far, they'd been sticking to small arms for the most part, but what were these assholes going to do when they broke out some of the heavier equipment? Who was to say that they'd run out of ammunition before these bastards would run out of bodies? It completely bewildered her.

They were lucky that their priorities were to search for survivors first. She wanted to find where these bastards were based out of and rain hell on them till there was nothing left of them. Of course, the real problem here were these storms. She wasn't sure how they were going to deal with those. Recovery by air or ship was impossible till they did.

She let out a quiet sigh, pushing these thoughts from her head. It was only then did she notice how quiet it had become…the croaking of insects was the only thing that she could really hear, the sounds of the various nocturnal creatures no longer audible. Alyena knew what this was the telltale sign of; something was close. What that was, she couldn't tell yet.

Alyena had one advantage over whatever was trying to get the drop on them; she lowered her 1PN139 thermographic monitor. Her right eye saw the world in hues of grey. The terrain a dull grey, plants being a slightly lighter hue, but animals showed up as a warm white. She flicked on the IR laser on mounted on her rifle, the beam only visible through her thermal monitor. To some, this was disorienting, but she'd trained to use the monocular so that she didn't have to give up her natural sight entirely.

Her eyes rested on a white blob, that had grey hues to it. It was holding what was quite clearly a weapon. Unfortunately for Alyena, it got a shot off before she did. Fortunately, however, she was only temporarily stunned when the round smacked into her body armor. Alyena let off a two-round burst, the arterial spray on impact showing up as an immediate but short-lasting explosion of white-hot blood on the thermal monitor. She didn't have to look far to see another contact, who looked like he was desperately trying to knock back and arrow before she could shoot him. She put an end to that immediately with another two-round burst. The SP-6 9x39 rounds did just what they were made to do; tearing through body armor to pulp internal organs.

With a sigh, she slowly began to lower her weapon. That was until she saw the thermal signatures of dozens of others. She immediately raised her hand up and turned on her mic to call this in. They were in so much trouble now…

Senior Lieutenant Sasha Vorobiev, several minutes earlier

Sasha continued toward the front end of the camp, away from the main buildings. If there was any place to start shooting at things, it was better to do it away from where a ricochet could hit someone else. Lara had the AEK-971 cradled in her arms with a familiarity that honestly surprised Sasha. How this girl was a natural at everything she touched was beyond him. Formal rifle training or not, she was already cradling the weapon in a manner that belied the fact that she was clearly aware of its balance.

How a girl like this could even think of someone like him as interesting was beyond him. It had to be the blood loss and the adrenaline talking back then, painkillers too. There was no way she said what he heard her say. Only Sasha noticed the lack of the usual motivation derived spring in her step. Part of him wondered if she was thinking about this too.

'Mudak. She's probably thinking about Roth. Not your dumb ass,' he thought to himself. Risking another glance at Lara as they rounded a wrecked truck with what looked like Imperial Japanese Army markings on it. While it should have distracted Sasha from his current train of thought, it didn't. A few precious seconds more and it became too much for him, and he blurted out what he was thinking, "Look, about that thing earlier…"

"No, no," cut in Lara. "It's me who has to apologize. It's unfair to just drop that on you," said Lara, stopping and turning to look at him to see his reaction.

Sasha shrugged, "It's fine, I've heard weirder things in the heat of combat. This situation is pretty stressful, I understand." He should have felt glad that he'd managed to sort that out, but he didn't. Silence set in for a moment as he debated asking her about whether she'd actually meant what she said.

Of course, true to form, his actual statement came out far more awkward, "You know, you don't have to feel grateful or anything. I'm just doing my job." That was a blatant lie, and he was cursing himself for not only the lie, but what preceded it, the moment it fell out of his mouth.

"I'll admit I don't think I would have gotten this far without you, nor would I have been able to help Roth," answered Lara, nodding. There was a pregnant pause before she continued, "I do enjoy your company, Sasha, and you're a sweet, funny guy. It's just…I don't want to bother you with all this. You've got plenty enough to be worried about as it is."

Sasha closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He liked Lara, and they got along really well. Only this was not the place for such a thing. Once he got Lara and Roth back to safety, he'd have new tasking orders and would probably not be seeing her as much. If…when, they got off this island, then that would be that. The smart decision would be to just forget about it all and show her how to use the gun.

Lara, however, was the first woman in a long time that he wasn't stumbling over himself when he talked to. They'd gotten along really well so far. Lara had even confirmed that herself. It took a moment's deliberation, but he decided that he was just going to give it a try, "Did you really mean what you said back there?"

Before he could really pay any attention to Lara's answer, a gunshot echoed in the near distance, and Sasha's radio came to life barely a moment later, "Kontakt! I have dispatched two hostile scouts attempting to enter the base, and I can see a lot more where they came from! Everyone fallback to the main building, now, priyem!" exclaimed Alyena over their shared radio frequency.

Sasha instinctively brought his Vintorez up and flicked the safety off. Lara was giving him a look of concern. "You're going to have to be a quick learner," said Sasha, nodding at the rifle in her hands. "Flick the selector switch on the right side to semi-automatic. The sights are probably zeroed for one hundred meters, align the little red circle with what you want to shoot at any distance out to a hundred meters, and then pull the trigger. Two to the chest to be safe." He then ejected the magazine from his own gun, and rocked it back in, "you have to rock the magazines in, you'll get used to it. Pull the charging handle on the side when you reload. In fact, do it now."

Lara did as she was told. "Rock the magazines in, two shots to the torso and use the sights to aim. Got it. Did I miss anything?" Sasha shook his head. He was hoping that she was familiar enough with the weapon, because she was certainly going to have to use it now.

Before either of them could react, he heard the sound of footsteps in the distance. "Nothing," he said, bracing himself for contact and motioning for her to stay behind him. "Now all you have to do is put your knowledge to the test." The expression on Lara's face became grim as she shouldered the weapon and looked down the sights. A small smile flickered across Sasha's face before he returned his attention to his own sights.

The seconds felt like minutes, but sure enough, the first few Solarii came running up the mountain path that led to the front entrance of the base. "Shit, it's the girl and that paratrooper!" exclaimed one of the bow wielding Solarii who slowed to try and knock an arrow back. Sasha didn't give him the time to do so; a single 9x39 SP-6 armor-piercing round punched through his throat and took much off it out with it on exit.

"Kontakt at the main gate. Lara and I will fall back when we're able, priyem," said Sasha over the radio, his statement punctuated by the report of two rounds fired from Lara's new rifle. Lara ducked behind the same decrepit former Imperial Japanese Army truck he was taking cover behind. Even rusted all to hell, the engine block was still better cover than no cover at all.

Sasha was about to call it clear when he heard a voice call, "Come on! They're this way!" Sasha sighed. How many more of these assholes were there, and what the fuck was keeping them so fucking motivated? Every moment he spent in this place reminded him of Chechnya, and at the same time made even less sense than the things he'd seen there.

Three Solarii, two armed with what he could have sworn were old Japanese Type 100 submachine guns, while the third had an old US Marine issue M1912. That, or he was seeing things. Old weapons or not, Sasha let off two rounds at the man on the right, who was big enough that the Type 100 looked small in his hands. The SP-6 rounds didn't care about the makeshift vest he was wearing, nor did it spare his insides.

By the time he put one through the Solarii idiot in the center, Lara had let off a two-round burst through the man on the left. The Solarii continued to throw themselves at them with reckless abandon. This was the first time in his time on this island that he'd been forced to expend a whole magazine. He placed the empty magazine back onto his webbing, before turning to Lara and asking, "How are you doing on ammunition?"

"I don't know, maybe a third left?" she said, ejecting the magazine and feeling its weight. Sasha nodded, and was reaching for another magazine when he detected motion in his peripheral vision. He barely managed to duck under a hatchet swing. As he stood back up, turning around, he could hear Lara curse under her breath as she loaded the magazine back into her weapon. Sasha could see a tall thug of a Solarii facing him. He was not massive by any means, but he was not a regular sized man either. He grinned a yellow toothed grin at him. Sasha let go of his rifle, which was useless in this situation, and drew his Shaitan-S.

Before he could do anything, a bullet tore its way through the man's head. Standing behind the now dead man was Alyena. "What part of now don't you understand, blyat?" Sasha swapped his magazine with practiced ease, and then looked at Alyena pointedly. "Hmph, fine, that excuse will work this time. Now, davai, both of you."

Lara didn't need to be told twice, she moved to follow Alyena, flashing Sasha an encouraging smile as she followed behind his fellow marksman. Sasha had a good idea as to what that smile translated to, 'It was a good effort.' The sound of gunfire was still in the air, staccato of automatic weapons fire mixed in with the ghostly slit-slit-slit of suppressed weapons fire.

"They're surrounding us, we thought you two had been overrun," clarified Alyena as she threw herself at the wall near the entrance to the compound. Sasha stacked up on the other side, seeing exactly why she'd done so; there was a large group of Solarii pushing into the main compound. Probably after having dropped off one of the walls. Sasha pulled one of his fragmentation grenades out from its pouch on his carrier rig and glanced at Alyena, who nodded.

It was one of the most practiced maneuvers. Grenade, and then follow that up by breaching. "Be ready," he whispered to Lara. "When the grenade detonates, stay behind us and follow us in." Lara nodded. With practiced ease, Sasha pulled the pin and tossed the grenade in the midst of the Solarii.

A few of them looked down at what was at their feet, until one of them called out, "Grenade! Scatter!" Only it was too little, too late. The grenade detonated, claiming the lives of everyone in that group. Sasha and Alyena were out first, looking for any signs of trouble. That grenade would have definitely attracted the attention of the others.

Another unit of Solarii jumped the wall. Sasha, Alyena and Lara were about to snap up their weapons up and open fire when the muffled staccato of suppressed automatic weapons fire became audible. "Into the building, prikrivayu [2], priyem!" Illya's first burst caught the Solarii out in the open, six corpses lay on the ground. More Solarii were rushing their position. Sasha took a deep breath. He didn't know how they were going to survive this one.

"Pashol [3]! Prikrivayu!" said Alyena as she fired off a pair of two round bursts at two enterprising Solarii that Illya missed.

Sasha nodded, "Alright, we're going to move, now. Stick close!" Lara nodded, and the moment he was off, she was right behind him. continued. The shouts of dying Solarii and futile attempts at return fire overlaid the ghostly slit-slit of Alyena's Vintorez and the deeper muffled staccato of Illya's suppressed Bullpup PKP Pecheneg.

Sasha made sure that Lara was behind a concrete pillar before he added over his radio, "Gotov [4], priyem."

"Ya pashol, prikroy menya [5], priyem!" called back Alyena. Sasha put a quick two round burst into one of the up-armored better armed Solarii, who he saw raise an Ultimax 100 Machinegun of all things. Bullets smacked into the pillar, sending chips and fragments of aged concrete everywhere, a few large pieces audibly bouncing off of his helmet. He heard the throaty discharge of Lara's borrowed AEK-971, and the dying scream of a man, and the fire stopped.

The moment Alyena reached them, they began withdrawing into the building. The sounds of the battle now a little more distant. "You know, if this whole archaeologist thing doesn't work out for you. I think you've got a career as a competition shooter ahead of you," said Alyena, breaking the temporary silence that had set in.

"Why aren't you?" Lara asked Alyena amidst pants. Sasha smiled; he knew the answer. He'd had this discussion with Alyena sometime around when they'd first met, two months after he and the rest of the Volch'ya staya [6] had gone in to get her out.

"My father died in Afghanistan, and he had only one child," answered Alyena, shrugging as she glanced backward to make sure that they weren't being followed. "Somebody needed to continue the family tradition." Sasha remembered Alyena explaining that her grandfather, and her great grandfather had both served.

"I see," said Lara, probably caught off guard by Alyena's casual mention of her father's passing. "I'm sorry to hear that," she added, trying to catch Alyena's eyes. Alyena was all business as usual, constantly scanning their surroundings, making that a distinctly difficult task for Lara.

"I appreciate it," said Alyena, no emotion edging into her voice at all. Silence set in once more between them. Sasha didn't know if he should have said something. Thankfully, the sound of boots crunching on debris caught all of their attention. They all snapped up their weapons but lowered it when they saw who it was.

"Don't shoot, it's just us," said Artyom, supporting a groaning Conrad Roth. "Tyoma and Illya are buying as much time as they can. We need to leave, now." Alyena nodded and put Roth's other arm around her shoulders. Roth didn't protest. They began picking up the pace, making for the same way Sasha had led Roth and Lara into the base.

"Are we going to leave them behind?" asked Lara, the resounding report of a fragmentation grenade punctuating her sentence, muffled staccato fire from the Pecheneg following it. Sasha wasn't worried about either of them, he knew if any of them were going to fight a delaying action to buy them time, he'd trust those two to come back alive.

"Pasha and Illya know what they're doing," said Artyom. "Between the five of us, if anyone's going to be able to buy us time and walk away alive, it's them." Sasha knew that Artyom wanted to be there with them, but he was needed here. Lara looked unconvinced, and so Artyom added, "Trust me, Illya has been doing this for a very long time, and Pasha is just too stubborn to die."

Both Alyena and Sasha let out a laugh. Artyom was only partially exaggerating about Pavel. That man had made it through when most people questioned how he was still alive, let alone up and fighting. Lara said nothing more.

They made it to the rear exit, the sounds of battle still very much audible. The group came to a stop at the hole in the wall. Sasha and Alyena exchanged a quick look, before Sasha dropped his thermal monocular and leaned out. Seeing nothing, he motioned for the others to follow, whispering into his radio, "Chista, priyem."

They followed out, cautiously making their way down the path. He, Lara, Alyena and Artyom had their heads on a swivel, watching out for the slightest sign of danger. The sound of feet crunching on leaves caught him off guard. Snapping his head up, he saw a single Solarii step over the rise to his right, rendered as a white hot man-shaped figure by his thermal monocular. Sasha immediately snapped his weapon up and put the man down with a two round burst, but not before a vaguely cylindrical shaped object left the man's hand.

Without even thinking twice, he tackled Lara, yelling, "Granata [7]!" He heard the grenade blow, and he felt a wave of heat wash over him, but he wasn't sure if it was the pressure wave from the grenade or the momentum left over from tackling Lara down that sent the both of them over the side of the pathway. As they both fell past and through shrubs and undergrowth, painfully, Sasha could hear the ghostly slit-slit of suppressed gunfire in the background, just barely. The last thing he remembered was hitting something, hard, before coming to a stop.

Major Vasily Beloi, during first watch

"Tovarisch Major, tovarisch Kapitan, eto Davydova!" Vasily heard Alyena's voice crackle in over the radio. The sound of weapons fire in the background. "The situation has escalated, secondary has fallen. Solarii launched a massive ambush on our position. Tyoma, Captain Roth and I are falling back. We've been separated from Miss Croft and Sasha, and Pasha and Illya. Pasha reported they're falling back too, but no contact from Sasha yet, priyem."

Vasily resisted the urge to let out a sigh. Asking them to watch over the injured Roth and search for Sasha and Ms. Croft, trained British Royal Marine or not, was signing their death warrant. Sasha, if he was still able, was going to have to keep the both of them alive. Shouldn't be too hard if what he'd been hearing about her was true. He had faith he'd hear from them soon, and he had faith that the Lord would watch over them.

"Obshchepriznannyy, udachi. Report back in once you have reached primary, konets svyazi," he breathed into his microphone. Vasily ran a head through his short hair. He could swear it was starting to get more grey than black these days. A more careful inspection in the mirror prior to his departure revealed it not to be the case.

"That sounds like bad news," aid Reyes from behind him. Vasily turned his head to glance at her.

"It was," he said, nodding slowly. "Could be worse news." Reyes looked at him expectantly. Vasily decided that he would oblige her, "My team at the radio station outpost came under attack. They've got Roth with them and they're pulling back. No word from Lieutenant Vorobiev and Lara yet."

"Major, that's more than just bad news," said Reyes, her eyebrows raised as she regarded the more or less neutral expression on his face. Her face hardened, ever so slighting, "How the hell are you so calm about this?"

Vasily saw what looked like real concern and worry on Reyes' face for what he was almost sure for the first time in as long as he'd known her, which admittedly wasn't very long. He had heard that people expose their true selves in situations like this. He wasn't so convinced. "Roth is with some of my best, and Sasha has kept Lara safer than anyone else we have had to watch before."

"It's not the capability of your commandos I'm doubting, Major Beloi, it's Lara. She's very young, and very inexperienced. If she's captured, if she gets the both of them captured…or killed…" said Reyes, sounding more like she was thinking out loud than anything else.

Vasily gave Reyes a look. She'd made it very clear what she thought of Lara, and Vasily would be inclined to think the same if didn't believe what Sasha said. Sasha was not a man who was easily impressed, and if Lara had proved herself enough to not only assuage any concerns that he might have had but also impress him, then that was good enough for him. Even if it did occur to him that in this case Sasha may not have been thinking with his head, he trusted Sasha enough not to place any real suspicion on him in that regard. "She'll learn. She has to. After all, we all started somewhere," he said simply.

"You think that this is the place for her to learn? Or that it's fair to expect Lieutenant Vorobiev to watch over her? Asked Reyes pointedly.

Vasily had to concede that point to Reyes. "A fair point, but he has noted her skill to me on more than one occasion, and if he believes that she can keep up, then I'm more than happy to take his word for it. In any case, the Solarii have left us with no choice in the matter," he countered.

Reyes huffed, but conceded the point to him. "You and Roth have something in common." Vasily tilted his head to the right ever so slightly in inquiry. "You stay cool no matter the situation," she clarified.

Vasily knew that she had great respect for Roth and so he nodded. "A compliment if I ever heard one from you, must be a blue moon," he said, a smirk flickering across his face. Reyes gave him a thin-lipped smile. "It comes with the job, can't afford to be anything but," he added.

Reyes nodded, her gaze falling to the ground. When she returned her gaze to him, she had a question on her lips, "You always wanted to be a soldier, Major?"

"Computer science if you would believe it," he said, smiling again.

Reyes looked surprised by what she'd just learned, "Now that's something that I'm having a hard time imagining. You in front of a computer, programming for hours."

"I used to be a decent programmer, don't think I still have it in me," he said, shrugging. "What about you, Ms. Reyes, what did you do before you were the Endurance's mechanic?"

"I told you, Major Beloi, I'm just a city cop who's well out of her league," answered Reyes.

"A police officer?" asked Vasily. "Which city if you don't mind me asking, and what changed your mind?"

"New York, and the reason is because I got tired of not making enough of a difference. Endurance seemed a decent enough change of scenery," answered Reyes. Something about her manner told him she was being surprisingly honest. "What about you, Major? What made you change your mind?"

"I nearly got mugged. An off duty VDV paratrooper stepped in. Enlisted that week, as cliched as it may seem," he responded. "I realized how much I owed my country, and those that keep it safe."

"That's…not what I expected," admitted Reyes. "I expected you to be a hardcore patriot." Vasily got a good mental image of what she expected from her tone. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't slightly insulted, but he let it slide.

"Oh, I very much am. I'm not doing this job for the paycheck. None of us are, and we wouldn't be very smart if we were. It pays decent, but not well enough for the paycheck to be the only reward," he said. Reyes nodded slowly. Silence set in once more after that. He carefully considered their conversation as he stayed vigilant for any sign of hostiles, eagerly waiting to hear more from his unit.

Junior Lieutenant Natalya, sometime before second watch

Natalya settled in her part of the plane. The two M2 machine guns in the tail mount were missing. Natalya hoped that they wouldn't run into them at any point in their dealings with the 'Solarii'. Her plate carrier, carrier rig, patrol pack and uniform shirt lay beside her, lying against the left side of the aircraft's hull. Her rifle, like her, was leaning against the right side of the aircraft.

She took a sip from her canteen and took a deep breath. It was humid on this island, and it wasn't exactly cool, pleasant weather either. The days were pretty warm, and the nights weren't much cooler by comparison.

She'd been keeping journal entries of the days' events. She'd been doing this ever since she'd been with the unit. Helped her think and reflect on what had happened. That way she'd wouldn't have to burden anyone with the need to talk about them or could talk about them afterward without having to try and remember everything.

No one in the unit really talked about that sort of thing. Pasha and Tyoma usually laughed it off or tried to make light of it. Illya and Captain Zaitsyev didn't really say much unless there was something to be learned from it. Major Beloi was a mix of the two. Sasha, well, Sasha spoke sometimes. Alyena did too. She'd join in when it did happen but found this a far more effective outlet. Major Beloi encouraged it, he had said it was healthy.

She became aware of the fact that someone was walking toward her section of the aircraft. As a force of habit, her right hand reached for and closed around the grip of her sidearm. Her peripheral vision was good enough that she could see that the person in question was Alex. She pretended not to notice him, instead keeping her attention seemingly on the screen in front of her. Based on what little she knew about Alex so far, she didn't think this conversation was going to end anytime soon, so she saved her journal and closed the word processor. "Didn't sleep well?" he asked, after a moment. "I hope I'm not bothering you."

Natalya turned and shook her head, "No, you're not. I did sleep well, actually, thanks for asking." She paused for a moment and then glanced back at him, "What about you?" Alex had a look that looked to her like one of concern. "Something bothering you?"

"No, well, er- yes…It's just that…we left Lara on her own to go and look for Sam. I mean, Whitman was with her too, but Whitman's about as useful with that gun as a priest in a whorehouse," said Alex, a smile slowly forming on his face, despite the subject of conversation.

Natalya laughed. "Don't worry, Alex, Senior Lieutenant Vorobiev is with her now. I've known him for a long time now, there are few people I'd trust more to watch my back." She glanced up at Alex to see if that had reassured him, but though diminished, the look of concern on his face was still present. She nodded at the space in front of her and then added, "Sit, we have some time before we have to take over."

Alex nodded, "Thanks." He sat down, taking a breath before he leaned back against the aircraft's hull. "I worry about her sometimes. Can't do anything about it, though. Reyes probably didn't want me fucking that up too, probably why I'm here instead of with her."

Natalya didn't quite know how to respond to that. Natalya didn't know why he was telling her all this. Perhaps it was because Jonah was asleep, and she detected some tension between him and Reyes, Alex all but admitted it in his last statement. She wasn't quite sure what he was talking about but decided that she'd try and be a sympathetic ear.

"I understand how you feel. This isn't what you're good at, and you want to help your friend and you can't. Just remember, you aren't going to be helping Lara by worrying yourself sick," said Natalya, making sure to look Alex in his eyes when she spoke.

"Right, I'm sure you know just how I feel," replied Alex, sarcasm dripping from every word. Natalya's facial expression immediately changed to reflect just what she thought of that. Alex must have noticed this, because he immediately apologized, "That was rude, I'm sorry. I mean, I just…"

"Didn't think that I'd understand because, what? You think I've had everything together because of what I am today? There was a lot of struggle to get here. There are friends I have wanted to help but I can't, I don't know anything about anything that would let me. If it's not a machine, or I can't shoot it, all I can do is talk. Talk. Sometimes, talk isn't enough," she said, raising her voice just, but then taking a sigh as she immediately regretted it. Natalya looked away and took a deep breath, "Now it is my turn to apologize. Seems like this is a tender issue for both of us."

"No, you're right. I did assume. You're a technician on an elite commando team, and you look like…well, that," said Alex, his eyes widened as he realized what he said. "Well you know, I just- uh…you know."

Natalya blushed ever so slightly, and then flashed Alex a polite smile. "I'm flattered, Alex." She caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the screen. She saw a young woman with shoulder length red hair, green eyes with a lean muscled figure. Most of that was age, and the physical standards required by her unit. Genetics helped too. Her appearance was never something she put too much attention into, but Alex was right, it was one more thing that she had to her credit.

Silence had set in for about a moment, with Alex being too embarrassed to say something, and Natalya too caught up in her own thoughts to say anything. Alex was a decent fellow, if someone who cared very much for his friends. Friends. That was something that she didn't have many of. Natalya looked up at Alex, giving him a warm smile, "So, do you want to come check this thing out? It's got a 3.5 GHz processor, GPS-GLONASS module, Wi-Fi as well as the ability to interface with radio, satellite and cellular connections. And it is drop safe onto concrete from three meters."

Alex looked at for a moment before a smile flickered across his face, "That's like asking if I shot Udina." Natalya let out a short chuckle. She and Alex were probably going to get along just fine.

Senior Lieutenant Sasha Vorobiev

Sasha came to with a distinct feeling of pain in his head. His eyes slowly managed to flutter open. As his eyes got used to the lighting, or complete lack thereof, he could tell that he was inside an aircraft, an old one by the looks of it. Immediately his hand went for his handgun, and relieved that he could move his limbs, Sasha drew his SR1MP. As he was about to look around, he heard a voice from behind him, "Oh, thank God you're awake."

He immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Lara Croft. "How long was I out?" he let out groggily. "Did you drag me…where the fuck are we?" He slowly and somewhat reluctantly put his sidearm back in its holster as he looked around, trying to get a view of their surroundings out of the windows of the aircraft.

"It's an old transport plane of some kind," said Lara, looking around at the interior of the aircraft. She then returned her gaze to him, "And yes, I did drag you. Luckily for us both, you didn't make that difficult." With some difficulty, Sasha propped himself up against the fuselage of the aircraft. He looked at Lara with a mixture of surprise and confusion. "What?" she asked as the smile that formed on her face turned into a laugh. "You're a lot easier to drag than carry, believe me, I tried."

Sasha laughed as well, "I'm just surprised those lokhi never caught up to us." Lara looked at him pointedly. "They did then?" That much didn't surprise Sasha, nor did the obvious conclusion that Lara had dealt with them.

"Well, they did. They just won't be doing much of anything, anymore," said Lara, tapping her holster, where Roth's 1911 sat snugly. Immediately, Lara's veneer of calm shattered, "I can't believe how easy that was…I just…shot them."

"And because of that, we are both here talking about it. Instead of being tortured to death, or something," said Sasha immediately. He didn't even want to think what the Solarii would do with any of them if they got them alive.

"I just snapped my gun up and shot them, as easy as breathing," said Lara, seemingly ignorant of what he'd said. "What am I doing?" she asked seemingly no one in particular.

"You're surviving," said Sasha after a moment's thought. "People train long hours to have reflexes like that, Lara. Yes, you didn't choose this, but when the situation forced you to fight or run…" He trailed off, prompting Lara to look at him. "Face the facts. Your training is not exactly special forces level, and your experience isn't entirely what it needs to be, but you are keeping up with us. We've been doing this a lot longer than you've been at university. Whether you choose to believe it or not, you are a rare case."

Lara thought about it for a moment and then sighed, "Without you and the rest of your squad being here we'd all be a mess." She paused for a moment before she added, "I'd be a mess."

Sasha thought about what she said for a moment before he responded, "You would have pulled through fine, Lara." He wasn't so sure about the others, but he had a feeling that Lara would be more or less intact. He didn't know why; it was just a hunch. "By the way, how did you manage to not lose consciousness when we rolled down that incline?"

Lara almost immediately looked very sheepish and was avoiding his gaze. Sasha suddenly had a feeling he knew just how she'd managed that. "Let's just say, Sasha…that you're not as hard-edged as you think," said Lara, looking up at him with a broad grin on her face.

"Ah yes, except for my kryptonite; brunette British archeologists with impressive combat abilities," said Sasha, chuckling at his own joke. At least he'd managed to remain useful even while unconscious. Lara, however, was blushing, but then she chuckled at his joke as well. "I know…I know, I'm impossible," he said, holding his hands out in acquiescence.

There was silence between the two of them for a moment or two before Lara broke it. She glanced at him monetarily before she returned her gaze to the deck. Had he not been looking at her, he wouldn't have caught it in his peripheral vision. "About your earlier question, Sasha…" she trailed off. Sasha immediately felt his heart rate elevate. Govno, she remembered. Why did he have to open his mouth like an idiot earlier?

"I meant what I said earlier," she said after what felt like an eternity to Sasha, now looking at him. "I know how it looks, but…I really do like you, Sasha." Lara sighed, the look on her face giving Sasha the distinct impression that she didn't quite know what to say, "It's not just because of what we've been through together."

Sasha felt a wave of relief wash over him. "Look, I like you too." Now it was Sasha's turn to struggle to find the right words. He let out an awkward chuckle, "Something tells me that that we both are not very good at this, eh?" Though for the life of him, Sasha couldn't understand how a girl like Lara didn't have people fawning over her.

Lara let out a short chuckle, letting her gaze fall to the deck. "I tried this sort of thing in Uni…didn't really work out. I…I've been a little hesitant to try again."

"You too, huh?" asked Sasha, feeling a lot less awkward. "It's funny. We both have been fighting for our lives today, and when it comes to admitting that we like the other person, we're tripping and stumbling over ourselves." Sasha starting laughing at just how ridiculous this all was, it wasn't hearty, but something more resembling a dry cough.

"It's a bit ridiculous, isn't it?" asked Lara rhetorically, then sighing. Sasha turned in her direction, a melancholic expression on his face, and nodded. "Maybe it is painkiller, blood loss, stress and adrenaline talking." She turned and looked straight into his eyes, "But I want to give this a chance."

Sasha nodded slowly. A part of him reminded him of all the difficulties of their relationship, how it would make things here difficult, how it would be next to impossible to pursue once they were off this island and so many other reasons why he shouldn't even be considering this. "It will be difficult, you know. Are you sure?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

In the cramped space of the crashed transport aircraft, Lara leaned forward, pulled down his balaclava and planted a kiss on his lips before he could even decipher what it was that she was doing. "How's that for a confirmation?" she asked, pulling back slowly, the expression on her face only able to be described as a mix between euphoria and cheek.

Sasha sat there blinking for a moment or two, before he replied, "Consider me convinced." He took a deep breath and let it out, slowly. Being stuck on this island and fighting for his life with a steadily dwindling ammunition supply didn't seem so bad, so long as he was doing it with Lara Croft.

That morning

It was about halfway into third watch when Sasha decided to start on breakfast. Breakfast was never an elaborate meal for them. It might have been the 'most important meal of the day', but Sasha often ate a big dinner and a scant two previous meals while he was in Chechnya, which was where he'd spent a large part of his career. Georgia was better, but they had a better idea of who they were fighting then.

He did remember that Lara preferred tea to coffee, and while he also preferred coffee, the coffee provided via the rations was far from the best that he'd tasted. Then again, he needed the kick. Checking his canteen, he found it about half full. Using his mess kit, he began boiling water for first his coffee, then Lara's tea. Hopefully she wouldn't wake up in the meanwhile. He took a packet of crackers, the remaining tin of pashtet, and the apple jam. As he was opening the tin, he noticed the water was boiling, and so dumped the contents of the sachet into it.

A few short minutes later, Sasha was sipping coffee when he saw Lara stir. He quickly drained the rest of the cup and gave it a quick wash. He poured the remnants of his canteen into the cup and began boiling it. Lara had her back turned to him, but he heard her mumble, "Is that coffee I smell?"

"Good morning to you too," said Sasha, smiling to himself. "Da, I had some coffee, don't worry, I've got tea here for you." He set aside the pashtet, jam and crackers. The last night's dinner was not far away. It had been Lara's idea to share the last meal of the ration pack, and so they'd sat together and ate, while keeping their sidearms handy of course. It was…nice. They'd talked a lot, about each other and any other topic that came to mind.

Lara stretched her arms as she got up, fresh dressings covering the various cuts and gashes she'd sustained the previous day. "Good morning to you too, Sasha," she said groggily, as she turned to face him, eyes half closed. "Should I get used to tea and breakfast in bed?" Sasha couldn't help but chuckle.

"Maybe," he laughed, checking the water but realizing that it was far from ready for tea. He passed over the items he'd set aside, "Some breakfast, your tea will be ready soon." Lara went to work coaxing the apple jam from its sachet. "Would be nice, eh, if we didn't have to start back for camp while avoiding those Solarii fucks."

"God yes," said Lara, leaning against the fuselage. "Absolutely brilliant." She opened her eyes, a tired look having formed on her face, "Still, I'm glad you're stuck here with me."

Sasha knew what she'd meant by that, but he decided to have a little fun at her expense, "Oh really?" He was already smiling before the words were even out of his mouth.

"I didn't mean it like that!" replied Lara defensively. "I just…" she trailed off when she saw the smile on his face. "Oh, you cheeky bugger," she said, half smiling, and then shaking her head at his antics.

"I'm happy to be here for you, Lara Croft," he said sincerely. "Even though it had to be in a shit place like this, I'm happy that we found each other." For a moment, both of them were lost in each other's gaze. That was until the bubbling of the water he'd left to boil caught Sasha's attention. He took it off the fire and put the teabag in it. He reached for the creamer and sugar and held the tea out with one hand and the creamer and sugar out with the other.

"Thank you," said Lara, taking the tea from him, which Sasha acknowledged with a nod. Sasha left Lara to her breakfast and got to making sure he was ready to get moving. Once he was done, he walked over to the aircraft's rear entrance hatch, which at some point had a door. He'd had all morning to think about his decision to get into a relationship with Lara. He could hear Pavel's advice already, "Don't think, mudak, have you seen that woman?" A smile flickered onto his face.

Every time he did think about it, he kept wondering how things were going to work out when they were off the island. Sasha finally resolved to forget about that, he'd deal with that when he reached that point. The problem was that he didn't want to be the reason that things didn't work out between them and given what he did for a living, he was sure that he was going to be. He didn't want to do that to Lara, she deserved better.

Lara's voice interrupted his thoughts, "Tea's good, Sasha. Thank you for breakfast." A warm smile washed over Sasha's features, and he was about to turn and respond, when he heard something in the near distance. He could have sworn that he heard the sound of indistinct conversation, and not too far away. He held his hand up to where his mouth would be under his balaclava. Without missing a beat, Sasha tapped his holster.

Lara nodded, and drew her 1911, attaching the suppressor that Roth had given her. Sasha nodded subtly to indicate that he was satisfied. He dropped his thermal monocular down, looking around to see if he could see anything. Unfortunately, Sasha saw no more activity, nothing more than a few small animals moving around. Even so, Sasha wasn't convinced, but if they stayed too much longer than they were definitely going to be in trouble.

He glanced at his GLONASS receiver to plot a route for them to take. If they moved off east from the aircraft, which would then take them near to where he'd first found Lara, but it also had the clearest route through the center of the island. They needed to cut through the middle if they were going to reach the other coast in any amount of reasonable time. Once they'd made decent progress, he'd check in with Major Beloi.

He turned back toward her and said in a hushed tone, "Quickly, grab what you can pack away and put it in my pack. Lara nodded, and swigged the rest of the tea, wincing slightly, Sasha sucked his teeth. That couldn't have been entirely pleasant. "Careful," he hissed. Lara gave him an admonished look as she placed part of the mess kit and the remaining crackers in this pack. Sasha took a breath before he stepped out, flicking the IR laser on his Vintorez on as he scanned the area for any sign of trouble. He then motioned for Lara to follow behind him.

They'd barely taken a few steps forward when he heard the sudden sound of footsteps ahead of them. "Back, go the other way," he hissed at Lara, still looking ahead. He heard Lara's footsteps receding, when movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. He saw a distinctly shotgun shaped object snap up. Sasha tossed himself out of the way, feeling buckshot ricochet off of his back armor plate almost immediately after he heard the weapon boom.

Sasha was about to turn and put a pair of SP-6 9x39 armor piercing rounds into whoever this was when a shaggy foliage covered figure came charging at him from his right. As he swung his rifle around, he barely caught sight of the curved sword in the man's hand. Sasha put a round into him, but that didn't stop the maniac, it only made him drop the vicious looking sword. He barreled into him, knocking them both to the ground. He threw two good punches, which Sasha managed to block with his arms. The impact aggravated the wound in his left arm, making him grit his teeth in protest.

Sasha swung his elbow into the man's cheekbone, he felt something crack as his hardened elbow pad impacted the man's face. He followed up with a vicious uppercut. He could feel the man's nose breaking, hot blood splashed on his uniform and balaclava. He all familiar coppery taste of blood assaulted his senses. Sasha used this time to get to his feet. He heard the crunching of feet on the undergrowth and had barely enough time to push his pistol through the holster and put a pair of rounds into the surprised Solarii who rounded the large tree to Sasha's left.

As barely an afterthought he turned and shot the other Solarii in the head. The round punched through the man's skull effortlessly, and he collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Barely a moment later, he felt two rounds smack into him. He recognized the muffled cough of a suppressor. The first round hit his chest plate, other than registering the impact he barely felt it. The other round hit his arm protection, and while it was rated for pistol and low velocity rifle rounds, he certainly felt this one.

He turned and saw his assailant, a Solarii in a similar homemade ghillie suit to the others. He had a large frame handgun with a bulky suppressor attached. Sasha got two more in the chest for his efforts before he was able to put a pair of rounds into the man. Sasha was breathing hard now. Adrenaline was pumping. Then suddenly it hit him, where was Lara? As he began frantically looking around, he heard what he could have sworn was her.

Sasha began heading back the path they'd taken, his pistol in his hand, his Vintorez bouncing as he bounded along the path. As he reached the plane, he caught sight of Lara standing over one of the Solarii in ghillie suits, using her bow to strangle him. Before he could even react, the man became limp in her hands, and she retrieved her bow. She barely seemed to register his presence, and so he said, "Remind me to never piss you off."

Lara had a grim determined expression on her face, "Bastard thought he was fighting a weak defenseless girl, he thought wrong." Deep in her eyes, masked well by the other emotions, was a hint of fear. Sasha had a feeling that it had to do with something that had happened before he'd found her earlier, but he didn't push the issue.

At the same time, Sasha was silently impressed. "Umnitsa [9]. That's my girl." Lara smiled warmly back at him. He nodded in the direction they'd taken before the ambush had hit, "Whoever these lokhi are, they aren't the 'regular' Solarii, they're better trained and better equipped." He paused for a moment and then added, "I don't know whether to be concerned or flattered."

"Maybe both," said Lara, looking at him. Sasha noticed her gaze fall to the bullet impacts on his vest, "Just how many of them were there?"

"Three. I took some buck shot to the back plate. Don't worry, it was only pistol caliber rounds. Plate took it no problems," he said confidently. It was at this point where the final Solarii that he'd killed, the one that had shot him four times, was visible. "There's number three," he said pointing the man out. "The bastard that put four rounds into me. It's a good thing all he had was a handgun, and that he kept shooting for center mass even after the first two rounds clearly hadn't dropped me."

"But that means he was an accurate shot, doesn't it, Sasha?" asked Lara. He nodded. "That's a bit of a frightening thought." Sasha nodded again. He couldn't argue with that. The other two bodies weren't much further up the path. It didn't take much effort to find the other man and his shotgun. Now that he'd gotten a good look at it, he could see that it was a Franchi SPAS-12. Sasha picked up the gun and held it out to Lara, who shook her head, "No thank you. I think I've got enough weapons to lug around."

Sasha nodded understandingly, and then after weighing the disadvantages of carrying the weapon around with him, decided that he was going to take it. He started searching the man for spare ammunition and found some dragon's breath shells, or at least the rounds bore a manufacturer's mark that said they were. They could have been reloaded with something else. "This guy had some nice ammunition for this shotgun," he said as he placed his newly liberated shotgun shells in a pouch on his rigging before slinging the shotgun across his back.

"What bothers me is the number of guns here," said Lara, earning her an immediate quizzical look from Sasha. "I mean, how did so many weapons end up on the island? Many of them are modern firearms like what you just appropriated."

"I think you and I both know the answer to that question," he said, a sigh escaping from his lips. "Come on, nothing we can do about it." Lara nodded, keeping her pistol held at the ready. "We have to cut through the center of the island if we want to reach the crash any time soon, so I'm sure we're going to have to deal with some resistance. That way we can also be close at hand if Major Beloi and the others need any help finding Sam."

Lara nodded, "God, I hope we find her, Sasha. If I didn't ask her for help with funding for the trip, she wouldn't be here." Lara began breathing faster, the look on her face became one of panic and concern. The panic and concern gave way to sorrow, and tears started welling up in those beautiful brown eyes of hers.

Sasha let go of his Vintorez and put his arm around her. He immediately began shushing her as he brought her closer. "Don't think about that. We'll find Sam, and we'll get off this island. I made you a promise, remember? I intend to keep it." A smile slowly formed on his face, "Besides, I can't die here, I still have to survive to face Roth when you tell him we're dating."

Lara laughed amidst sniffles; despite being clearly upset. "That's if we both survive Sam when she finds out," let out Lara. A smile flickered across her face, "I can just hear her now. 'Seriously Lara, a crazy island filled with madmen, that's what it takes for you to give dating a try again?'" Lara's attempt at Sam's American accent alone was enough to make Sasha laugh.

He caught her gaze as she started to turn, and they shared a look for a moment. He wiped a tear from her face with his thumb, adding, "It hurts to see tears on such a pretty face. But you are so much more than that, and so it hurts so much more." Lara smiled weakly at him. "Come then," he said, nodding in the direction of the path ahead. "We have a lot of walking to do."

Almost reassuringly, he heard her let out a weak laugh, "That we do, Sasha."

Major Vasily Beloi

"Tovarisch Major, eto Vorobiev, kak ponyal, priyem?" crackled the voice of Senior Lieutenant Sasha Vorobiev through his active headset. Sasha had reported in later that night, and he would be lying again if he said he wasn't glad to hear his voice in the morning.

"Ponyal, status report, priyem," replied Vasily, pulling out his Sagittarius. Sasha, according to his locator, was not far off from their position, and based on his current heading was moving roughly in the same direction they were. That was smart, that would put him close to their location if their assistance was needed, but it was also the fastest way to the Antonov crash.

"Miss Croft and I are on the move. We encountered more elite Solarii, these ones were in makeshift ghillie suits. They were pretty decent at concealment. Priyem," came Sasha's reply. Vasily resisted the urge to sigh. Every time he thought he had these bastards figured out, it turned out that he didn't. He'd have to pass the warning around to the rest of the unit to be on the lookout for these new lokhi.

"Obshchepriznannyy. Stay alert. Konets svyazi," he said, taking his hand off the transmit button. He turned his attention to where Natalya and Alex were sitting. He'd instructed to Natalya to send out a ZALA 421-08 drone to see if she could get any sort of clue as to where the Solarii had taken Sam, and if they could get more data on Solarii positions in the meanwhile.

Natalya and Alex both conversed as Natalya flew the drone. Vasily didn't want to intrude on their personal conversation by reading Alex's lips. Like him, Natalya had her entire kit on, ready to move at a moment's notice. Natalya and Alex were getting along very well, and Vasily was having trouble distinguishing if it was merely a friendly relationship or if there was something more going on here.

He was unsure if there was any basis for his suspicion or was it simply him being overprotective of her as usual. She was the youngest member of the unit, and from the time she'd joined, by her own admission, he'd been like an older brother to her. "What's the matter, Major, you see something you don't like?" asked Reyes, interrupting his thoughts.

Vasily huffed. "I'd have to be sure about what I'm looking at for me to be annoyed with it, Ms. Reyes." Vasily turned and looked at something else, realizing that he was staring. Friends or something more, it wasn't really his business as long as she did her job, and that was never going to be a problem. Still, it didn't stop him from watching out for her.

Reyes was quiet for a moment before she spoke, "She could certainly do better." Vasily laughed. He remembered that Reyes's opinion of Alex was less than shining. From what he'd heard, and from what little he'd seen, Alex hadn't exactly done much to change Reyes's opinion of him. He really couldn't catch any luck as far as she was concerned.

"She could certainly do worse too," he said. "In any case, I don't think there's anything going on," he lied. He did think there was something going on, he just wasn't sure of it. "Besides, it's none of our business," he added, before changing the subject entirely. "So, everyone set to move?"

Reyes gave him a quizzical look, then shrugged, "Yeah, Jonah's just going over our ammo supply. We're fine, by the way." Vasily would much rather that they didn't get into an extended firefight with the Solarii but decided not to comment on the matter.

Before either of them could say anything else, Natalya called him over, "Tovarisch Major, you should come look at this." Vasily and Reyes exchanged a look before the both of them walked over to where Alex and Natalya were sitting. Before he could say anything, he had his breath taken away by what he could see from the drone's camera feed.

It was a massive complex, built around an ancient Japanese palace. There were defensive positions, farms, what could only be the smoke from a tannery and forge and of all things a fucking cable car based cargo transit system. The facilities were massive, because otherwise they wouldn't have been so easy to see from the altitude that the drone was flying at. The only thing Vasily managed to say was, "Download that, make still images, and send that to the others."

Vasily couldn't see her face, but he knew that she was smiling under her balaclava. "You haven't even seen the best part," she said. When Vasily squinted his eyes in confusion, she turned to Alex, who turned Natalya's laptop so that he and Reyes could see what was on the screen.

When Vasily saw the image, all he could say was, "Nu blyat." Right in the middle of the mess of makeshift buildings and decaying old palace was Samantha Nishimura, bound and gagged, and flanked by what was by all accounts Father Matthias himself.

Later that morning

In the time that it had taken for Natalya to fly the drone back, Vasily had made sure that not only were the others adequately informed but that the still images taken from the drone's video footage were disseminated throughout the entire squad. Once the drone was back and it's entire kit packed up by Natalya, they were on the move. The entire team was put on alert. It would take time for Viktor to rally the others and get there, which meant that he and Natalya could do some on preliminary reconnaissance.

It was better to bring Reyes and the others with them, once the shooting started, the more guns they had on hand, the better. Of course, he didn't plan on having them follow in with the main assault, but more to cover their retreat once they got Ms. Nishimura, killed that bastard Matthias and got the hell out of there. That was the tentative plan that he and Viktor had discussed in any case. No plan survived first contact with the enemy, after all, and while this was not first contact, Vasily was not naïve enough to presume that the Solarii had played all the cards they had to play.

They were taking a path along the coast was at the top of a steep incline that led down to a beach. He had taken point, while Natalya was bringing up the rear. They were both keeping an eye out for any signs of contact. So, when Alex mentioned that he saw a man on the beach in the distance, Vasily wasn't surprised that he had missed it, "Don't look now guys, but there's some guy running on the beach."

At first, Vasily didn't quite believe him given the casual mention. When he looked in the direction that Alex was looking, he indeed saw what looked like someone running. From the gait, it didn't look like a woman. Given his pace, and the direction he was running, Vasily had a feeling he wasn't a Solarii. He snapped his rifle up, looking through the She Shakhin Medium thermal optics in day operation mode. Turning the magnification up, Vasily could make out a bedraggled man sprinting for his life, turning to look behind him every once in a while.

Thankfully, none of the others decided to walk on. They all stopped. For some reason, the man looked vaguely familiar to Vasily, but he couldn't be sure. He turned to Reyes, "Here, come take a look, tell me if this is one of the Endurance crew." Reyes nodded and walked over, taking the rifle from him with only a slight degree of unfamiliarity. In the meanwhile, he took out his Sagittarius, and began looking through the images of the passengers and crew on board the yacht that they'd come to retrieve.

"He's not one of ours," said Reyes a moment later. "I'm sure of it." Vasily nodded, taking back the rifle with one hand. He had a feeling that was the case. After all, the man was in a pretty bad state, and he doubted very much that he could be in such a state after only two days. Even in a hell hole like this.

"I thought as much," said Vasily, then turning to Natalya. "Take a look, Natasha," he said, in English, still looking through the photos of the crew and passengers. Natalya immediately came over and took the rifle from him, snapping it up and looking through the optic. Vasily finally found the image he was looking for, and once Natalya lowered the rifle, he tilted the device and showed her the image on the screen. "Look familiar?" he asked.

"One and the same, tovarisch Major," she said, nodding. "Maxim Fedorov. It'd bet my last paycheck on it." Vasily nodded, putting his tablet away. "We're going after him, right, ser?" she asked, switching to Russian now.

Vasily nodded, "Konechno, da [10]." She handed his rifle back to him and he secured the sling around himself once more. He turned to Reyes, who'd been following their conversation despite the fact that he knew she didn't speak any Russian.

"Just hold on a moment," she said looking from him to Natalya. "What exactly is going on here? Who is that man? One of the yacht survivors?" Vasily nodded, but before he could say anything, she continued speaking, "That's fucking nuts. You know that has to be a trap. There's no way anyone escaped from these assholes. You saw that place; it's locked down like a fortress."

"You're right, it is probably a trap," said Vasily nodding. "And if it is, that means they already know we're here. Nobody better to spring it than the two of us. You and the others get clear. If it isn't, we'll come find you." Reyes fixed him with an incredulous look, "No arguments, just go."

"Fine," she said reluctantly. "But when this shit blows up in our faces, don't say I didn't tell you so." She flicked off the safety of her pistol.

Vasily snorted, "If it does, Ms. Reyes, I don't think even you will want to. So, let's hope that it does not."

"Here," said Alex, holding out a radio like the one Reyes had. "Our radios don't work with yours. Take this so you can come find us later." Natalya took the radio from Alex, and they shared a glance for a moment before she turned around and put the radio into one of the pouches on her carrier rig. "Good luck," he said.

"You too," said Natalya. "All of you," she added, looking at the others. Vasily turned and started making his way down to the beach, only turning slightly to check that Natalya was still behind him. Every part of him knew that this was a bad idea, but it took a skilled commander to know when the enemy had outplayed him, and Vasily very much knew that the enemy commander had done just that. All he could do was ensure that he softened the impact of the blow that was coming.

Senior Lieutenant Sasha Vorobiev

"You know, I distinctly remember saying, 'I've seen enough Indiana Jones to know what a bad idea this is.'," protested Sasha, dusting ancient plaster and wood chips off his shoulder. Lara reached up and knocked off some cobwebs that he'd missed. He gave her a thin lipped smile, "Thank you."

"And I distinctly remember responding with, 'Come on, Sasha, where's your sense of adventure?'" replied Lara, a smug confident look on her face. Sasha rolled his eyes, distinctly remembering how she'd managed to goad him into following her into the ruins. Something that was called the 'Hall of Ascension', according to Lara, who could apparently read the ancient writing. It all looked like nonsense to him.

"We nearly died, in there," protested Sasha, as he continued along the path, keeping an eye out for any Solarii. In fact, if Lara hadn't figured out the ancient mechanisms as quick as she had, he was sure that they would have died in there. "And there was nothing in that chest in the inner part."

"Well, the Solarii have been here a lot longer than we have. I'm sure somebody's already been there before. Besides, we didn't nearly die, just maybe would broken a limb or two," said Lara, looking at him. He gave her a blank faced stare, something that was very easy to do with a balaclava on. "Alright, fine. Yes, a broken limb is a death sentence here." She sighed and said, "You know, moody and upset is supposed to be my thing, Sasha."

Sometimes, Lara surprised him. A little adrenaline in her, and some exposure to the history of this place, and it almost seemed like she'd forgotten about the cult of madmen who'd kidnapped her friend and were trying to kill her. Not to mention kill him, her boyfriend. That was a word, and an association he was going to have to get used to. Not since…that previous disastrous attempt, had he even thought of himself being important in that way to someone else.

Lara's line, however, did coax a laugh out of him. As he'd found out earlier, Lara knew how to be funny when she wanted to be. "Look, pitched firefights are my thing, but 'tomb raiding' is definitely yours."

"Tomb raiding?" asked Lara, giving him an amused look. "Catchy. You think it'd make a good movie? Or a video game series?" she asked, clearly joking. Sasha laughed, loud and hearty. He was the wrong person to be asking, but it seemed done and dusted with Indiana Jones.

"Don't sell the bike shop, Orville," he said, not entirely knowing or understanding the origin nor meaning of the phrase but convinced that it worked here. Lara laughed. Sasha joined her for a moment before they both fell quiet once more. For a while, it was just the quiet sounds of the forest around them.

That was until Lara's radio went off, "Hello! Hello?" The voice was panicked, but instantly familiar to Lara, and to Sasha too.

"Sam!" Lara exclaimed, taking the radio off of her belt. "Sam, it's Lara!" Sasha breathed a sigh of relief. Sam had managed to get a hold of a radio, which meant that in the very least she was still alive.

"Oh god, Lara…it's so good to hear your voice," said Sam, the relief in her voice evident even through the distortion of the radio.

"Yours too, Sam," said Lara. "Where did you manage to get the radio, do they know you have it?" she asked. Sasha had told her what had happened to Sam once Major Beloi got the image out.

"I got it off a guard," said Sam with a fearful and panicked tone of voice. "I'm in some kind of old Japanese palace." So that confirmed that she was still being held there. Good, he'd pass that along to the rest of the squad. "They keep talking about a 'fire ritual'," she added hesitantly. That, however, was concerning. Whatever it was, it sure as hell didn't sound good. "Lara, I'm fucking terrified!"

"Sam, don't worry, help is on the way," said Lara, a determined look forming on her face. She turned to him for support, which he assured her she had by nodding.

"How are you going to help if you get captured too? Or die?" she asked, quieter this time, almost as if she was trying to listen for something else.

"I've got help, Sam. The Russian special forces kind," replied Lara. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of there."

"Hopefully he's easy on the eyes too," said Sam, deadpan. Lara had turned a particular shade of red, in response despite the situation when suddenly Sam added, "Shit! Someone's coming! Gotta hide this thing." The line went dead then. Lara turned to him, almost as if asking if the line was really dead. Sasha nodded slowly.

Lara put the radio back on her belt before assuming a two handed grip on her pistol, "Come on. We'd better keep moving." Sasha first assumed she meant further in-land, but from the grip she had on her weapon and the look in her eyes, he understood that wasn't the case.

Notes:

1) My friends.

2) I'm covering (you).

3) Move.

4) I'm set/ready.

5) Cover me.

6) Wolf pack.

7) Grenade.

8) Well.

9) That's my girl/boy (girl in this case, naturally).

10) Of course, yes.