POV Rio
Instead of sending Lara into an unknown territory, I took one of their men and entered his mind using magic. From doing so, I basically instantly knew what we were dealing with.
"Son of a... Bird," I say with annoyance, stopping myself just short of cursing.
"What did you find out?" Lara asks.
"This guy is with Hydra, and so are almost every other person we've met so far. Venice has been turned into a massive Hydra facility," I say while trying to stop myself from yelling.
"Oh," Lara says quietly.
"Yeah, oh is right. But at least I got a little bit of info, and I think if I'm careful, I can capture someone who knows more info," I suggest.
We do just that, and I find that there are a few things that make it far more complicated. Capturing them is easy, making sure they don't kill themselves is a bit harder, but delving into their minds is actually quite hard. Despite having basically no knowledge of how magic works, they still managed to make mind-reading very annoying, and worse still, it was those god damn Tibetan Monks that gave Hydra such knowledge.
'What's next? Am I gonna have to face this world's version of Batman? Actually... I don't know if I would love or hate that.'
"Okay, I got some info, but it's not good news," I say after exiting the mind of the now drooling Hydra agent.
"How bad?" Lara asks while cleaning her pistols.
"Alex West has been brainwashed by Hydra, and that is what they plan to do with you as well. Moreover, the rest of Hydra knows about what has happened here and will probably hunt you down for the rest of your life if you make it seem like you know it was Hydra that was behind this. So there's no way we can let you get captured, as they would never stop hunting you. Right now, they believe they haven't been exposed, and that arrogance is what we can use. Even if these agents go missing, they will think that you failed to get anything out of them. Then, to top it all off, they know what library we were looking for and are in the process of excavating the catacombs. We've got another two days or less before they realise where the Grail is," I explain.
"That's... Not good at all. Can you save Alex?" Lara asks cautiously.
"Hmm, maybe. He hasn't been brainwashed for long, so it's not impossible I can break their control, but that will take days, perhaps weeks. We don't have that time, but how about I capture him, send him to the Watchtower, and then I can work on breaking the control," I offer.
"That will have to do. Should we strike Hydra?" Lara asks.
"Probably not. Hydra has around 23,000 personnel present in Venice, while I'm pretty damn good, I don't think wiping out an entire city of Hydra members is that feasible," I reply.
Lara and Lucy's eyes widen in shock at the sheer number of Hydra members.
"As I said, Hydra has basically taken over the city and turned it into a base. Apparently, the Xenomorphs wiped out most of Venice, and some of that was on purpose by some factions' actions. Heck, from what I read, several countries have done similar things, Russia being a standout in this case, as they let Xenomorphs infect some areas, and then they started to massacre anyone in those areas under the pretense of Xenomorph containment," I say with disgust.
Lara and Lucy looked as disgusted and angered as I did, but after a bit, we moved on.
"Alex is being held at the hotel with hopes that you would see him and attempt to rescue him," I explain while pulling out a map I made of the hotel.
Gun Cocking Noise
"Let's go get him," Lara says while twirling his twin pistols on her fingers.
I didn't argue, but while it would be funny to see her shoot her way in, I didn't want to risk West's life, so I teleported to the hotel, disabled the cameras, knocked West and his guards out, removed any tracking devices or suicide pills, and then teleported back, all of which only took about ten minutes.
"Killjoy," Lara complains.
I respond with a smug smile.
"Elven Supremacy is proven once more," I say in the most stuck-up posh voice I could manage, sticking my nose in the air.
Snrk
I look at the source of the sound and see Lucy looking at me normally. Before everyone started laughing openly. Once we were done laughing, I made sure West would stay asleep and did one final check to make sure he didn't have anything I didn't want on him, and then took him to the Watchtower prison and left him there for the time being. Then, when I came back, we made our final preparations to head to the Crescent Canyon, which was in now unclaimed territory of Haytay. Thankfully, I had been to Greece, which wasn't that far from where we needed to go. I mean, it was still a ways away, but not that bad.
'Especially when I have the Batjet.'
"It's about time you got an upgrade. If you took any longer, I would start to think you kept the broom around to cop a feel," Lara jokes.
"Har. Har. Har," I say sarcastically while rolling my eyes.
We get in the Batjet, and I start flying it towards the former city of Antioch. I didn't have to worry about being detected, as Batman was not one to be easily noticed unless he wanted to be. And even if they did somehow detect me, how would they respond? They have so little fuel that they can't spare it on some unknown plane flying in a fairly useless area.
"Pretty comfortable, so does this plane have music?" Lara asks while looking at the various buttons.
I look at the eject button that she nearly presses and suppress the urge.
"Please don't press anything, I don't want to have to find you after you fall into the ocean," I warn.
Lara backs off from the buttons a bit, and then I turn on the music player, as yes, Batman had a music player built into the jet. It even had a prebuilt playlist that I didn't mind that much. It was mostly classical music with some darker music mixed in and a few songs from Black Canary.
Static
I look at the music player and put the jet on autopilot while I figure out what is wrong with it.
"Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam, Et lingua eius loquetur indicium," the music player starts playing.
"Huh? I don't recall having this song in here," I say with confusion.
My confusion turns to understanding and worry as I recognize the song. I look back at Lucy and see that she was crying with a blank stare. I go to turn off the song, but I feel something grab my arm. It was invisible, but I knew it was Lucy's Vector.
"Okay, I'll keep it on," I reply softly.
The rest of the flight is silent, save for the music and the occasional sob. As the song ends, we near our destination. Finding the Crescent Canyon from above was easy, as it was one of the few rocky areas in the entire region. I take us into a narrow landing at the temple we were looking for. We leave the jet in silence, and I store the jet back into my inventory. The silence was thankfully broken by Lara.
"This should be the Temple of the Sun. Now, we just have to pass the three challenges," Lara comments while pulling out her notes and entering the temple.
We enter the temple and pass a cross upon the floor, which I sense some magic. I knew how to solve the puzzles as I was pretty sure this was the very same place as the Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade movie. But I didn't want to spoil Lara's fun.
"Only the penitent man will pass," Lara mumbles while staring at the first trial.
It doesn't take Lara long to figure out the first trial requires one to bow before god. Though the second saw blade nearly got her, with the basic ward I cast on her, she was fine.
"That was too close," Lara comments.
"Yeah, but at least you didn't lose your head," I joke.
She glares at me, but then continues on to the second trial, which was a series of lettered tiles with various letters.
"Only in the footsteps of God will he proceed... Footsteps..." Lara mumbles while looking at the tiles.
Lara looks at her book and then back at the tiles, and then leaps onto the letter I, as God's name is Jehovah, but in Latin it starts with an I instead of a J. Lara then completes the name while I just cast a spell to create a magic bridge over the puzzle completely. Lara looks back at me with a smile that fades when she sees my bridge. She then flips me the bird.
"Okay, now the last challenge: Only in the leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth," Lara says aloud.
The passage leads to a massive chasm with a lion's head carved into the wall near it. I was expecting an optical illusion, but I was surprised to see an actual illusion spell was cast here. It didn't affect me, but it sure affected Lara and even Lucy by the looks of it. For once, I saw Lara look a bit nervous, though that could be due to the illusion spell affecting her mind. I was tempted to cast a spell to help her, but Lara looked back at me at that moment. I saw the determination in her eyes, so I let her do it herself.
"A leap of faith, I must believe," Lara says as she closes her eyes and leaps off the ledge.
Tap
Lara lands on the invisible pathway, but due to how much force she put into the jump, she nearly loses her balance. Before I could cast anything, she was caught mid-air and moved back onto the path. I look at Lucy, who avoids eye contact and even pouts a little.
"Thank you, Lucy," I say kindly.
The pout twists into a slight smile. But that smile fades when Lara catches on and thanks Lucy as well. I shake my head and walk down the path towards the other side of the chasm. The other side leads to a chamber full of cups/goblets of various shapes and sizes, and in the center, a knight is kneeling while reading a book. The knight has a strange, ethereal paleness to them, but I can tell they are not a spirit. As the knight spots Lara, he raises his sword and attempts to attack her, but given how old the knight looks, it wasn't surprising that the man fell over just trying to raise his sword.
"I knew you'd come, but my strength has left me," the knight says weakly.
"Who are you?" Lara asks while helping the old man up.
"The last of three brothers who swore an oath to find the Grail and to guard it," the knight says with a tired voice.
"That was nearly 800 years ago," Lara says with some shock.
"A long time to wait... though I must admit you are oddly dressed for a knight, not to mention you being of the other sex," the knight says with some confusion.
"I'm not a knight, though I suppose I am a noble," Lara replies.
"That will have to do. I was chosen because I was the bravest and the most worthy. The honor was mine until another came to challenge me to single combat. I pass it to you, who vanquished me," the knight says while offering his blade to Lara.
Lara takes the blade with respect from the knight and inspects it.
"A fine blade, but that wasn't why I came here," Lara replies.
"The Grail then? Very well then, but you must choose. But choose wisely. For as the True Grail will bring you life... the False Grail will take it from you," the knight warns.
Lara looks at the various cups and doesn't grab any.
"Am I able to take the false grails away from here?" I ask.
"I... I suppose you could, but why would you want to take the false grail?" the knight asks with confusion.
"So you can tell which is the real one?" Lara says with certainty.
"It's the only one in here that isn't purely cursed," I say while looking over the various cups.
Lara nods and starts to investigate the cups until she finds the one cup that seems the most ordinary and boring.
"It would not be made out of gold. It was the cup of a carpenter," Lara says as she grabs the Grail.
"You have chosen wisely. But the Grail cannot pass beyond the Great Seal. That is the boundary and the price of immortality," the knight says.
"It can't leave unless you break the seal, well, not without destroying the temple. But that doesn't mean the Grail can't work outside of here, correct?" I ask.
"That is true, you must be a sorcerer then, in which case, I cannot stop you, and I was certain that you would come eventually," the knight says calmly.
"You know of Kamar Taj?" I ask with curiosity.
"Of course. You are not the first to discover the Grail. A sorcerer had come here before, but he chose poorly, and his life was taken," the knight replies.
I nod and start taking all the false Grails and absorbing them, getting me another 55 cubic meters of inventory space, increasing it to 380 cubic meters. Then I left the chambers and started to literally carve out the seal from the ground, as it too was magical. Was I being a bit of a loot goblin, maybe? And the knight was looking at me like I was sick in the head or something.
"What could he possibly need all those cursed Grails for?" the knight asks Lara.
"I have no idea," Lara says while shrugging her shoulders.
All three of them watch me as I work.
"But I love the sights from here," Lara says while staring at my backside.
I turn around and glare at her.
"Really? You had to make it weird," I complain before doing my work, facing them so they don't look at me like a piece of meat.
"Don't stop, you gave us such a show," Lara complains.
Lucy nods, and I feel betrayed.
"Et Tu Lcuy?" I say with a shocked face.
Lucy looks saddened and gives me puppy eyes.
"Fine, you're forgiven," I replied.
"What?! Why is she forgiven?! This is unfair! I demand justice!" Lara jokes.
I laugh in her face and finish my work. I got another 20 cubic meters, which bumped my inventory to 400 cubic meters. As I absorb the seal, I see the old knight start to fade.
"Ah, my task is done at last. Keep the Grail safe," the knight says with a peaceful smile.
We watch as the knight dissipates, and we choose to use this chance to leave. Overall, this was a great little adventure.
"Home?" I ask.
"Home," Lara nods.