#maya is covering her shirt with the chak

[trash-laurry]

FUCK YOU IS SHE WEARING A T-SHIRT WITH EDDIES MISSING PIC ON IT?!?!?!? I FEEL EXTREMELY NORMAL ABOUT THIS ISTG😀😀

[brittanythescrivener]

Behind Trinity Lines - Chapter Four: Apocalypse How

Tags: @embracetranquilityson, @eintausendschoen, @roxlovescommanderourke4ever​

Two Weeks Later Cozumel, Mexico   Rourke was pissed. No, he wasn’t pissed. He was fucking irate. He clenched his fist tightly as he held his phone to his ear with his other hand.

“You’re telling me that a hundred grand in equipment and two weeks’ worth of supplies just disappeared into thin air?” he demanded.

“No, sir. A small group splintered off the main camp with supplies in tow.”

Rourke clenched his jaw. “You’re in charge out there, fix it! Do what you have to do, Mendoza.”

There was hesitation on the other end of the line. “Once they were discovered, we were able to catch up with them and recovered the stolen gear.  We sent in a clean-up crew, but it was a total bloodbath.  We have attracted attention in the village.”

Rourke fought the urge to smash his phone against the nearest tree. “What’s the status of the other two sites?” he asked with an impatient sigh as he smoothed his hair back out of his face.

“Site A at Itixi Mitari was a dead end, sir. There’s nothing there. Site B at Trincheira Bacaja could be promising. Investigation is still ongoing.”

Rourke let out a sigh.  “I am getting on a chopper to Brazil in one hour, and if I have to clean up your goddamn mess when I get there, it won’t be pretty. That clear?”

"But sir--."

“Is that clear?” he demanded.

“Yes, sir.”

Rourke ended the call without another word and clipped the phone back onto his belt.  He stomped back to the tent where his right-hand man was lounging in a lawn chair with his shirt off.

“Problems?” Winters asked.  

“Yeah,” the Commander said with irritation. “Apparently we lost a squad. A bunch of incompetent bastards is what they are. Where do we find these fucking people?”

He remembered his first days with Trinity when everything ran like a well-oiled machine. Before everyone was at odds with each other, fighting over conflicting ideologies. The best of his soldiers had been picked off by Croft, and he was scraping the bottom of the barrel. His teams consisted of a handful of loyal men—military veterans like himself—and an overwhelming number of lazy millennials just looking for a paycheck and a story to tell their friends. Even his Deacon teams, whom he had personally trained since Day One, weren’t up to par.

Beau Winters was one of the few good men he had left. He had served in the Special Forces with Winters, and he was one of his first Trinity recruits. He considered him to be one of his closest allies,  Winters was a cocky son-of-a-bitch if there ever was one, and Rourke believed that’s why they got along so well.

"I’m heading out to Brazil at 20:00. So that means you’re in charge until I get back.”

“Sure thing, Chief,” Winters said.

"I'm gonna go find Jo and see if she's speaking to me today," Rourke said.

Rourke was worried about her. They’d been in Mexico for two weeks, and she had been distancing herself from everyone, which was highly unusual for her. She’d always been an outgoing person and most of the guys saw her as just one of them. Jo had always had an innate, maternal instinct that the guys picked up on, so the nickname she’d earned over the years—Ma—was fitting. Everyone knew she’d take care of them and they could confide in her about anything. But as of late, she stayed near her quarters and didn’t talk to anyone.  He knew she wasn’t sleeping at night. There’d been several nights he found her sitting by the campfire alone after everyone else was in bed for the night.  Nights when she refused to talk to him about what was going on in her head.

 Rourke found her at the edge of camp, lounging against a rock, staring up at the stars.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Rourke said. He sat down next to her with a tired groan, leaning back against the rock beside her. Feeling her shoulder pressed against him was a small comfort at that very moment.

Jo gave him a sad smile. “Maybe I didn’t want to be found.”

Rourke rubbed his beard and said, “I’m flying out to Brazil in just a couple hours. I wanted you to know.”

“Okay.”

“You gonna be okay?” Rourke asked protectively.

Jo chuckled. “I’m a big girl. I think I can handle myself. I’ll be just fine.”

“I don’t want you to think I brought you here and then bailed.”

“I’ll be fine, Jamie,” Jo said again.  She patted him on the thigh.  "I promise."

“I’m leaving Winters in charge while I’m gone.  You need anything--and I mean anything--you tell him.  You got that?"

“You’re leaving Winters in charge?” Jo asked incredulously.

“Yeah, why?”

“That’s like using a croissant as a fucking dildo. It doesn’t do the job, and it makes a fucking mess.”

Rourke smirked. “Why do you hate him so much?”

Jo rolled her eyes.  “Because he’s an asshole.”

“I’m an asshole," Rourke said with a grin.  "Do you hate me too?”

“Sometimes.”

Rourke swatted away an insect flying around his face.  “Really, though. Why do you hate him?”

“He always talks down to me.  And he's an idiot.”

“You know why he does that, right?”

“To be an asshole.”

“He likes you. He’s just roasting you because he knows he can get a rise out of you.”

"Anyway," Jo said, signaling to Rourke that she was done talking about Winters.  "How long do you think we’re going to be here?”

“I don’t know,” Rourke said. “Why?”

Jo shrugged her shoulders. “There just doesn’t seem to be much going on. I don’t think I even know what we’re looking for.”

Rourke climbed to his feet and held his hand out. “Come with me.”

“Where’re we going?” she asked cautiously.

“There’s something I wanna show you.”

 Rourke led her to a small structure at the heart of the camp. It was a brightly-lit space packed with books, maps, charts, and different pieces of technology he sure as hell couldn’t identify.  Dr. Dominguez was seated at the desk in the corner of the small office and immediately looked up when he heard the door shut behind them.

“Good evening, Commander,” he said. He pulled off his glasses and said, “Dr. Wilkens, good to see you again.”

“Evening, sir,” she said.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” he asked, folding his hands neatly on the table in front of him.

Rourke placed his hand on the small of Jo's back, directing her to move forward.  “I wanted to show Wilkens what we’re doing here."

“Please, make yourself at home,” Dominguez said, gesturing with his hands.

Jo’s attention was drawn to the various maps strewn on the table in front of her.  She rested her hands on a sketch of one of the dig sites.  "How do you know where to dig when the island is covered with jungle?  Drones?”

“Come, let me show you,” Dominguez said. He motioned for her to follow him and led her to the computer at the far end of the room.

“LIDAR,” Dominguez said proudly.

“What’s LIDAR?”

“Light Detection and Ranging,” Dominguez said. “We scanned the island with aerial lasers and were able to make 3D maps of all the remote areas that would’ve otherwise been inaccessible to us.”

Dominguez pulled up a photo that looked like a topographical map in varying shades of green, yellow, and red. “With LIDAR we are able to see through the jungle to see what’s beneath it. It’s like an x-ray of the human body but on a much bigger scale.”

“This is fascinating!” Jo cried. “There’s an entire complex hidden here in the jungle!”

“Yes, untouched for centuries,” Dominguez mused.

Rourke noticed the glimmer in her eyes as she studied the images on the screen.  Since she had arrived in Mexico, he noticed that she seemed to have lost her spark.  A small smile formed on his lips when he realized that she seemed to be excited about something again.

“There are dozens of structures here,” Jo said. “How do you know where to start?”

Rourke pointed to a structure on the map and said, “The key to our next phase is here. At the cliffside dig site. We just have to find a way in.”

“This is incredible!  I had no idea archeology was so high tech,” Jo said.  She turned her attention back to Dr. Dominguez.  "So why all the time and expense?  What are you looking for so desperately?”

Dominguez studied Jo for a brief moment. He caught Rourke’s eye, and it wasn’t until the younger man gave him a nod of approval that he spoke again. “I am researching a Maya myth. Two artifacts, the Key of Chak Chel and the Silver Box of Ix Chel, when united will yield the power to remake the world.”

"What?" Jo asked with disbelief.

"The artifacts--."

Rourke waved Dominguez off.  “When the Lord gave His covenant to Noah, saying never again will He destroy this world, it can be interpreted as He has decided humanity has learned their lesson.  There is also a different interpretation to be made, and that is that He has given the agency of destruction to mankind itself.  We are responsible for every living soul.  It has been four thousand years since the world saw purity, and we aim to end that.  We will be the architects of the new world.  We will pave the street to heaven for all.  We will usher an end to this sinful, reprehensible world.”

“Commander,” Dominguez said thoughtfully, “are the contingency plans in place for when we breach the entrance to the temple?”

“Yes, sir,” Rourke said. “Before we enter the site, I will initiate Operation Blackout. Evacuation plans are in place and will be implemented before the dagger is touched.”

Jo laughed nervously. “So what are you saying? That these artifacts can destroy the world?”

Dominguez’s gaze fell onto the LIDAR images still up on the computer. “Yes . . . should they fall into the wrong hands.”

 *                    *                    *

  We know for sure it’s here. At the cliffside dig.

Konstantin stood just outside the door of the office building, hidden in the shadows. He could clearly hear the voices of Dr. Dominguez and Rourke inside.

So Trinity was looking for another way to reshape the world. He remembered the days when he was as devout as Rourke, when he was willing to do their bidding without question. Rourke was still young and had much to learn. Konstantin had seen Trinity rear its ugly head, and his blind devotion ultimately cost him his wife and the majority of his adult life.  When Ana fell ill, he took no issue with using Trinity as a means to an end. He knew that, through Trinity, he would be successful in finding the Divine Source to save Ana’s life.  His thoughts momentarily shifted to his sister.  He wondered if she could still be hanging on.

The door to the office opened, and Jo flew out of the building. Rourke jogged after her at a brisk pace. Konstantin shrunk back against the side of the building, holding his breath and standing as still as possible.

“Wait up!” Rourke called. “What’s wrong?”

Jo stopped walking and turned around.  “I’m creeped the fuck out, that’s what’s wrong.”

“Why?”

“Did you hear yourself in there? When you were reciting that manifesto about the destruction of mankind, you sounded like a crazed cult member or something. Is that what Trinity is now, a cult? You’re looking for more supernatural shit, aren’t you? After what happened in Siberia, you had the balls to get me here on false pretenses?”

“Technically I didn’t go into detail about the assignment,” Rourke said, his tone condescending. “I didn’t lie to you about anything.”

Jo cursed under her breath.

“Remember your Oath, Jo,” Rourke said sternly.

Jo scowled at him.

Silence fell between them, interrupted only by the sound of insects in the trees around them.

“So what’s Operation Blackout?” Jo asked. “Please don’t tell me it’s going to be like fucking Jonestown out here.”

“It’s our insurance policy,” Rourke said. He wanted to keep the explanation as simple as possible, but he knew Jo would push him for more details.

She frowned. “What do you mean ‘insurance policy’?”

“When we find the entrance to the temple, none of the local workers will leave the site alive. It’s our way of making sure nobody knows about us, what we found, or that we were ever at the site.”

Jo’s face fell.  “So you’re killing innocent people?”

Rourke frowned. “It is a necessary evil.”

“Why is it necessary? So you're luring desperate people with the promise of good-paying jobs only to dispose of them when you’re finished? What if those people have families? Children? And why do we need to be evacuated before this dagger is even touched?” Jo demanded.

“Dominguez says that when the dagger is removed, the Cleansing will begin with a tsunami.”

Jo laughed scornfully. “So this village will be wiped off the map? Why even bother with Operation Blackout then?”

“You know, Jo, I’m having trouble remembering why you even joined this organization in the first place,” Rourke blurted. He glanced at his watch. “I gotta go.”

 Konstantin watched Rourke walk away, leaving Jo behind seething with anger. So many things were running through his mind he couldn’t make sense of them. Key. Dagger. Silver box. Cliffside dig. Cleansing. Tsunami.

He knew what he needed to do.

 *                    *                    *

 Jo stared up at the roof of her tent, willing herself to sleep. She’d been tossing and turning for hours, as she did most nights. She raised her arm, and the face of her smartwatch lit up, blinding her momentarily. It was 02:23.

“Fuck my life,” she muttered as she threw the blanket aside and sat up. She pulled on her boots and emerged from her tent, planning to warm herself in front of the fire and collect her thoughts. As usual, she had to stoke the fire since the last of the men had abandoned it hours before.

She was sick to her stomach with anxiety. She hated fighting with Rourke. They were both equally stubborn, and they’d had their share of fights over the years. But nothing like this. The look of utter disappointment on his face when she questioned him was ingrained in her memory.  He had long since left for Brazil, and she desperately felt the need to talk to him. She considered calling him for a moment, but he had enough to deal with. He didn’t care about her or their fight when he was on a mission.

A branch snapped sharply directly behind her. Jo whipped around, putting her back to the fire. Her pulse quickened as her eyes adjusted to the pitch black. She could only just make out the profile of a person walking along the edge of the treeline toward the entrance to the dig.

Croft? She’d heard gossip that she’d been spotted in town. What if she’d snuck her way into the dig on the very night that Rourke had gone off to Brazil? Jo scrambled to her feet and crept behind the person walking briskly away from the camp. She stayed in the shadows until she had nearly arrived at the guard shack that would remain empty until daylight.

Jo’s fingertips dropped to the AB .45 holstered at her hip. She ducked behind a tree as the figure passed beneath a spot light.

It was Konstantin.

What was he doing sneaking around in the middle of the night, and where the hell was he going?

  Few things:  1. Some of the details in this chapter are tied to Trinity documents found throughout the game. 2. I am not an archeologist. 3. If Shadow of the Tomb Raider is ever made into a movie, Keanu Reeves must be cast as Rourke. 4. Croissant line is courtesy of Veep.