[Name]'s POV
"Chloe, you reading us?" Nate says into his earpiece as we run through a forest in Borneo.
"Loud and clear," her voice comes through our earpiece.
"We're getting close," Sully says into his, and we drop down off the path, into the grass below.
The sound of birds and bugs fill the misty, muggy air and Chloe's voice comes through again, "Okay, I've planted charges all around the perimeter of the camp. You three just need to arm them." I pull my pistols out of the holsters on my thighs while looking around when Chloe says, "The first one should be right ahead of you."
We move through a swamp towards a log with a bomb attached to it. "Here it is," Sully states.
"I also left the detonator for you," Chloe tell us and Nate types in the code on the bomb. The light changes from green to red and he stands up.
"All right. First one's set. Don't touch the button," Nate warns Sully who holds the detonator in his hand.
"This one?" Sully asks while resting his finger on the only button.
Nate sends him a warning look and I giggle and shake my head. We walk around the log and further into swamp when Chloe starts speaking again, "Once you've set all the charges, just hit the detonator and it's showtime. But be careful, Lazarević has his men posted all around the perimeter."
"Thanks for the heads up, Chloe," I say into my earpiece while Nate, Sully, and I climb up some rocks onto a dirt path.
"Keep an eye out for patrols," Sully warns us as we jog down the path. The sun beats down on us and I wipe a bead of sweat off my forehead when Sully's voice comes though my earpiece, "I'm sweatin' like a hooker in church."
"You brought a hooker to church?" Nate and I ask into the device.
"Why not?"
Nate and I exchange looks of disgust and we come to a ledge that drops down to a lower path. I hear voices of the soldiers Lazarević has, making me sigh, "Luckily I brought my own sniper rifle this time."
I put my pistols away, and pull my rifle off my back, attaching a silencer to its barrel. I line my shot up with one of the guards through the tree branches, before pulling the trigger. The bullet hits his head and the other man pulls out his gun and looks around for me. I smirk and line the shot up with his head, pulling the trigger, killing him instantly.
"That's definitely one way to take someone out quietly," Sully says while we drop off the ledge and walk over to the dead bodies.
Nate and I take the AK-47's with silencers on them from the soldiers before continuing through the swamp. I hear more mercenaries ahead of us and I signal the two guys to stay quiet. We take cover by a log and I pop up and start shooting the men on the upper ground with the assault rifle. Nate and Sully take out the ones in the swamp water and I finish the last soldier off.
"Looks like we can swing across there," Nate says while pointing at a wooden wall.
"Yeah, maybe you two can," Sully points out.
I playfully roll my eyes with a chuckle, "All right, hold on pops, I'll see if I can find another way up."
I climb up some wooden boxes, jumping off them and swinging from a metal bar supporting the wall. I land on the grassy landing where I killed one of the soldiers, and I walk across a knocked over tree trunk to another grassy landing. I run towards the back and use my strength to push a boulder down.
"Heads up," I say and Sully moves away as the boulder lands on the ground.
"Thanks kid," he says and climbs on the boulder before joining me on the landing.
"This way," Nate says while climbing onto the the flat grass I'm on and leading us onwards.
We cross over another tree trunk when Chloe's voice comes through our earpieces, "You should be approaching excavation site one by now."
I go to respond when I spot two soldiers ahead of us, making me rush to cover behind a tree. One of men sits on a log, and I sneak up behind him and pull him down, slamming his head into the tree. His skull gets crushed and he dies on the ground while I stand up and shoot the other soldier in the head with my pistols. A third man comes around and Nate shoots him from his cover behind a log.
"Down here," I whisper while climbing onto a mini cliff and peering down to see a soldier. I aim one of my pistols at his head and shoot, killing him instantly.
"Did you smash one of their heads open on a tree?" Sully asks while joining us.
"Possibly," I say while dropping off the ledge and running past a wooden crate to a small flat rock. I stand on it and grab the ledge of the next rock, pulling myself up. I walk over to a wooden wall and climb up the beams when Chloe's voice comes through our earpiece,
"You three should be getting close to the first camp. I planted four more chargers in there, but you're going to have to clear the place out before you can charge them."
I land on the grass and quietly jog down the path. Nate and Sully catch up to me and we drop off of two ledges and press our backs up against a rock wall by the camp. I peek around the corner and spot a few soldiers, but there's no doubt there more around.
"You guys ready for this?" I quietly ask Nate and Sully.
"Let's do it," they both respond and I sneak up behind the first soldier and snap his neck. I cushion his fall and pull his body away from sight when Nate and Sully start firing their guns.
'Seems we're not doing this quietly' my eye twitches and I pull out my pistols and shoot an explosive barrel, killing the soldier by it. I shoot a guy perched up on a platform in a tree, before exploding another barrel by a guard. Nate and Sully take out the rest, before joining up with me.
"All right, we've got to find those explosives and get them set up," Sully says and Nate and I go around the camp and find the charges, setting them up.
"Okay, that's all of them. Now let's go pay Mr. Lazarević a visit," Sully says and I collect ammo for the the AK-47.
"I don't know if I'll be able to act like I hate Harry though," I admit while Nate gives me a boost, so I can lower the ladder for him and Sully.
"If he acts like his normal sarcastic and lazy self, it'll be hard not to laugh. Let's hope he acts like an asshole," Nate says and I climb the ladder, kicking the mechanic that lowers it.
"There ya go," I say while waiting for them at the top.
"That must've been some tsunami to wash these ships so far inland," Sully says while we jog down a path to a small camp.
We run onto a path on our right and take cover behind a knocked over tree trunk. "They're not armed," I say, nodding my head to the guys working on something below us.
"There's not that many- what are we waiting for? We can take these guys," Sully says and Nate shakes his head.
"I don't know Sully, maybe-" he starts when a soldier kicks Sully in the face. I rush forward and shove the guy against the tree trunk, pinning my arm against his throat, cutting off his breathing. His face starts to go red and I put a gun to his temple before shooting him.
The two men below us look up, and I aim both of my pistols at their head and shoot them, killing them quickly. I get tackled suddenly and my attacker and I both fall into the water below. He holds me under and I kick my legs out and swipe his legs out from under him. I get the advantage and flip our positions, holding him under until he stops struggling and his body floats back up to the surface.
"Enough of this frivolity, kids. We've got work to do," Sully says while kicking the rope down so I can climb up.
"Like you have room to talk," I mumble while joining the two on the top of the cliff, drenched from head to toe. "At least I fought them off while you two did nothing."
Nate smiles sheepishly and sends me an apologetic look while Sully points at a large hose on the ground, "What do you bet we follow the hose- we find the camp?"
"You always follow the hose. Just like Montreal, huh?" Nate asks and I snicker while we follow the tube across the ground.
"You both will never let that go."
"Did you really think we would?"
"Hey guys, I think the camp is just up ahead," I tell the two while running through a stream.
I drop down and land on the ground beside a small waterfall, taking cover behind a log. Sully and Nate come down and take cover beside me, and we look over the log at the camp below us.
"Okay, you ready?" Sully asks and Nate stops him.
I send the brunet a weird look as he pulls out his binoculars and looks through them, "Wait, just- hold on a sec."
"Three minutes and you have found nothing," I hear the guy I'm presuming to be Lazarević say.
"W-Well, now, wait- wait a minute, we've been-" the familiar English accent fills my ears and I narrow my eyes to see Harry with the guy.
"Commander!" I pull out my own binoculars and zoom in to see a soldier bring a man up to Lazarević.
Harry and Chloe stand near the war-criminal and she nods her head up towards us, making Flynn look up. I smile and wave, and he winks at me with a smirk. My attention drifts back to Lazarević who stabs the guy his soldier brought to him. He tosses the man's dead body into the water before looking around him.
"I am surrounded by traitors and fools!" he exclaims, and I smirk when Sully hands me the detonator.
"Whaddya say we really ruin this guy's day?" Sully asks and I bite my lip before pressing the button on the detonator. Several loud explosions go off and I chuckle lowly, knowing the plan succeeded.
"Spread out! Search the perimeter!" Lazarević shouts and everyone runs out of the camp.
"All right, it's all yours, kids. I'll cover you two from here!" Sully tells us, and Nate and I run down onto the wooden plank bridge over the swamp. We quietly take out the sentries while Sully keeps watch over us through a sniper rifle he found. Once all the guards are dead, we run into the shack and over to the plans on the wall and tables.
"Man, this Lazarević guy isn't fucking around, Sully. You should see all this stuff. He's got files on every expedition to find Shambhala- all the way back to the 1600's," Nate says into his earpiece while we both go through the files on the table.
"What about Marco Polo's journals?" Sully asks and I laugh when I find them.
"Here they are," I say while picking them up.
"Just hurry it up- you haven't got much time," Sully warns us and I start reading through the journal inserts.
"'The worthy pilgrim is granted a golden passport to conquer obstacles in his journey to Shambhala'," I read aloud
"Is that supposed to mean something?" Sully asks and I shrug.
"Beats me."
I watch as Nate picks up a different journal entry and reads it to us, "'It was with great sorrow that I left my fellow travelers to their fate- a fate decreed by the dreadful cargo we bore from Shambhala'."
"They must've thought that tsunami was some kind of divine retribution," Sully suggests and I closely read another one of the pages.
"Wait a minute..." I trail off before shaking my head, "damn. Guys, I don't think the Cintamani Stone is here."
Nate looks at me, his eyes brows furrowing. "What are you talking about, [Name]?"
"Listen to this: 'I would have sooner endured the wrath of Kublai Khan himself than remove the Cintamani Stone from that sacred shrine',"
Nate rests his hands on the table and sighs, "Marco Polo never had the Stone."
"Then what 'dreadful cargo' is he talking about?" Sully asks us.
"I don't know... but if it's anything like those descendants from three years ago, I will be salty," I say and Nate face-palms.
"Well if the Stone's not here what the hell is Lazarević looking for?" Sully asks us and Nate looks at more items on the table, before looking up at the map.
"Shambhala," he says and my eyes widen.
"Here in Borneo? He's a little wide of the mark, don't you think?" Sully questions and I sigh.
"He must be trying to pick up Marco Polo's trail... back to Shambhala," I explain to him.
"Why?" Sully asks and I look at Nate who frowns.
"Because the Stone is still there," Nate tells him.
I sigh and speak into my earpiece, "Chloe, can you talk?"
"Hold on," she responds and her end of the line goes silent for a few seconds before she comes back, "Yeah, I can. What's up?"
"In all this digging they've done, have they found any bodies, any remains at all?" I ask her while Nate continues going through everything.
"No, now that you mention it- nothing. Why?"
"Over six hundred people were shipwrecked here, yet there's no bodies? Don't you find that a little peculiar?" I point out with a laugh.
"So where did they all go?" Sully asks and Nate laughs quietly.
"Where would you go, if a tsunami hit?" he asks us.
I tap the mountains on the map, a smirk coming to my lips and a chuckle leaving my throat, "To higher ground."
"Bingo. We head to that mountain, what do you bet we find Marco's pals?" Nate asks while grabbing a paper off the table.
"Chloe, can you meet up with us?" I ask into my earpiece.
"Already on my way," she responds and I smile.
"Great!"
"Nate, [Name], you gotta get out of there," Sully tells us suddenly. The brunet and I look up to find Lazarević and his men returning to the camp.
"Search the perimeter," Lazarević shouts and Nate and I take cover under a pane-less window as the war-criminal leaves his soldiers to search.
"Stay down kids, I've got you covered," Sully tells us and I grab the grenades off the crates beside me. I pull the pin and toss a grenade into the middle of a group of soldiers. They realize the explosive is there too late and it goes off, killing everyone near it. I toss another one and it kills those soldiers.
"There's more coming from your left," Sully tells us.
Nate pulls out his pistols and shoots at the men when four more start coming down the path in the middle. I pull the pin on another grenade and roll it down some stairs so it hits the foot of the first soldier. His eyes widen and the grenade explodes, killing the four men.
Some more men start coming in from the right and I pull out my pistols and start shooting them along with the ones who started coming from the left. More reinforcements start showing up, and Sully helps us take out the men by using the sniper rifle he has.
"There's too many of them," I say before quickly leaving cover and running towards the tower where a guy with a machine gun is shooting from. I press my back up against a metal sheet while taking a grenade off my belt and pulling the pin. I toss it up into the tower and it explodes, killing the men in there.
"That's all of them," Nate announces and we leave cover and collect any unused ammo that we can find. We run up a wooden beam from one of the crashed ships, onto the landing where Sully stands.
"Should be this way," I state as we run down the path. We drop down from the top of a ledge, and I roll once I hit the floor to cushion my fall.
I continue running up the path, climbing up walls when I need to. I climb up one more small wall and stand up on the ground with broken stairs. "Whoa, Sully, look at these stones," Nate says while joining me.
"Ahh, now we're gettin' somewhere," Sully responds and I look off the cliff at the ocean below. I lose interest quickly and jog over to the cave in the rocks.
"Would you look at that," Nate laughs.
"Oh, yeah." Sully grins while looking at the cave.
Chloe runs up behind us, skidding to a stop. "Hey-... hello- what do we have here?" she asks and we fist-bump each other.
"With any luck, the last resting place of Marco Polo's crew," Nate tells her while I walk closer to the opening in the stone.
"I don't know about you three, but I'm checking it out." I grin while running inside. I look around the aged, dark cave. "Oh, this place must be thousands of years old."
"At least," Sully adds on.
I drop down through a hole in the ground, entering a whole new area of the cave. The others drop down and land beside, and Nate turns on his flashlight, "Whoa... looks like we hit the jackpot."
Hundreds of skeletons litter the cave floor and Chloe looks around in disgust. "Eugh. There must be hundreds of bodies down here."
I shine my light on the skull of one of the skeletons before examining the others. "Guys... look at their teeth- they're black."
"For God's sake, they're all that way..." Sully says while shining his light on more of the skulls.
We walk over some bones towards a hole in the wall that leads to another room. "They must've taken refuge here during the tsunami," Nate points out and I step into the room, to be met by a swarm of bats.
"Sky puppies!" I smile as they go past my head.
"They are not sky puppies, [Name]!" Nate cries out as we walk further into the room.
I find an overturned barrel, and I walk over and check it out. "Hey, I think I found something."
"They must've carried their cargo all the way up here after they were shipwrecked," Chloe states and I pick up some resin off the barrel.
"More resin. We've seen this before," I tell Nate and he hands me an unlit metal torch from a different broken barrel.
I place the resin stone inside it, before grabbing my lighter out of one of my pouches and setting the resin on fire. The blue flame lights up the room, and Sully and Chloe stare in awe. I start to walk forward when the blue flames highlight the blood on the floor.
"Wait a minute... this is blood," Nate says and we follow the bloodstains to a wall.
"It seems to end at this wall," Sully states and I nod my head before dropping the torch and pushing some of the rocks.
"This moves a little. Help me out here," I tell them, and Nate joins me in pushing the rocks against the wall. The rocks collapse and I pick the torch back up to reveal a whole other area of the cave. I walk through the opening and follow the blood trail further into the caves bowels.
"Look at this," I say while setting the torch down, and walking over to a decomposed body holding onto a red box.
"Careful," Chloe says and Nate smirks, knowing what I'm going to do.
I crouch down next to the body and start to take the box from the skeleton before acting like it's fighting back. I scream making Sully and Chloe jump in fear. A laugh falls from my lips and Nate chuckles beside me, while Chloe face-palms and Sully shakes his head in disappointment and says, "You two are going to give me a goddamn heart attack one day."
I open the red box to find an item wrapped inside paper. I pick up the object and unravel it to reveal a golden Phurba with amazing craftsmanship. "Man, is that an ugly freakin' thing," Sully says and I deadpan.
"What is that thing? Is it a weapon?" Chloe asks us.
"Yes and no- you see it's a Phurba. It's a ritual object, from Tibet. It's used to destroy obstacles, but it's also a dagger," Nate explains when I hand the object to him.
"Huh? What kind of obstacles?" Sully asks and I sigh.
"Spiritual ones," I clarify and Chloe clicks her tongue.
"Oh," she shakes her head in disappointment while I chuckle.
"Wait a minute... could this be what Marco Polo was talking about?" Nate asks, and I take it from his hands and examine it.
"Kid, I don't even know what the hell you're talking about," Sully says making Chloe snicker.
"In his journal- he wrote that 'the worthy seeker would be given a golden passport to conquer obstacles on the journey to Shambhala'," Nate recites the entry from the journal.
"So, what- this is it?" Chloe asks and points to the Phurba in my hands.
"Look, that's all really interesting- but where the hell is it a passport to?" Sully asks us, and I hand Nate the Phurba while looking at the paper it was wrapped in.
A chuckle leaves my throat and I hold up the paper that's really a map. "Well, maybe this would help."
Nate takes the map from my hand and reads what is written on it, "'Between Greater India and the province of Tibet lies a field of exquisitely finished temples, hundreds of gilded spires stretching as far as the eye can see'."
Sully stands up and looks over Nate's shoulder, his eyes widening. "Hold on- I know this place. It's in Nepal," he says and Nate nods.
"Yeah, except it's not just a field of temples anymore... it's a city," Nate points out.
"Well, that could make things a little more challenging," Chloe sighs, and I look down at the map and shake my head.
"There's more written here... 'In all these many temples, only one conceals the secret path to Shambhala- and that path shall only be revealed to the pilgrim who bears the golden passport'," I read aloud and Nate holds up the Phurba to show what the statement refers to.
"All right, nice work, kids," Sully says and pats Nate and my back.
Chloe grabs the Phurba and places it on her hip, before leaning to one side and crossing her arms. "So what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here."
She starts to run off and I chase after her with the other two behind me. "I'm gonna go out and make sure the coast is clear. See you in a bit," she says, and we climb up a pillar to the ground we had dropped down from.
Nate and Sully come up and I wait for them while Chloe runs outside. A soldier yells from outside and our eyes widen. "Oh, C'mon," Nate sighs when Chloe runs back into the cave and pulls her gun on us.
"Harry! In here!" she shouts, and mouths to us to start acting right as Harry and a few soldiers enter.
"Should've known it was you two. And you- Victor 'Goddamn' Sullivan... you're still dragging this tired old sack of shit around?" Harry smirks while walking closer to us, his eyes holding an apologetic look.
"Seeming Sully can at least fight without a gun, I'd shut your mouth if I were you," I snap and Harry cocks an eyebrow.
"[Name], I see you still have quite the bite even after spending the last three months behind bars," Harry says while gripping my chin and tilting my head up so I'm staring into his blue eyes.
"Better than pissing away three months in the jungle without a clue," Nate retorts and Harry chuckles.
"Found the ships, though, didn't I?" he smirks at us.
"You couldn't find your ass with both hands," I say with an eye roll.
"And a map," Sully adds on.
"They came from down there," Chloe points to the hole we came out of. She walks over to Nate and snatches the map from him, waving it around. "Whoa... Harry, look at this."
Harry holds out his hand and Chloe gives it to him. "Speaking of maps..." Harry trails off and looks at it. He slowly starts to translate the map, making Nate frustrated.
"Oh, now- don't be such a bad sport," Harry says before looking at Chloe.
"Take them to Lazarević. You're going to wish you stayed in prison, mate... love," Harry says to Nate, the last part to me.
"You lost the right to call me love after you double-crossed us," I snarl and his eyes widen, looking slightly hurt.
I send him an apologetic look and he seems to relax, understanding that I didn't mean it. Chloe moves so she's standing behind us and she pushes Nate and I forward. "Move."
Nate, Sully, and I raise our hands up in surrender, and two soldiers lead us down the path. Once we're far enough away, Chloe knocks out one of the guards. The other one turns and shoots her, the bullet grazing her arm and she quickly retaliates. The raven-haired woman pulls out her pistol and shoots him and the unconscious one on the ground.
"I thought you said you couldn't act. You actually seemed like you hated Harry," she says while holding her right shoulder where the bullet grazed her.
"He was acting like an absolute asshole, it was actually fairly easy," I say while she looks over her shoulder, checking for more soldiers.
"Well lucky for me, this wound is going to make it look more believable," she chuckles and I smirk. Chloe hands me the Phurba and clasps her hands together. "Now I'm going to go and join Flynn, and we're going to try and buy you three some time. I'll meet you there in Nepal. Now, run."
Nate, Sully, and I wave before taking off down a path. "Shit! They spotted us!" Nate shouts as we start getting shot at from behind.
"Run for it!" Sully exclaims and we jump over a collapsed tree trunk.
We keep running, and Nate and I go to jump off a rock onto the grass path when the rocks collapse from underneath us. We start to fall, but we grab onto some stones on the side of the cliff.
"Get up here, you two," Sully says and we climb up the rocks and onto the grass.
We run along the path and out of the line of gunfire when we come to a narrow path against the cliff wall. We carefully slide along it, but find that it leads to a dead end. "What do we do now?" Sully asks and I smirk while looking down into the water below.
"Isn't it obvious?" I question. "We jump."
I turn around and smirk at them before jumping off the cliff and falling through the air with a laugh. I land in the water, resurfacing as the other two splash in beside me a few seconds later. "You're insane," Nate smiles at me, his hair brown hair flat from the water.
"Tell me something I don't know," I chuckle and him, Sully, and I start swimming away.
~
"When you said Lazarević had a head start on us, you weren't kidding..." Nate trails off from beside me in the truck.
"Well, he's had some help from the local guerillas... the city's been on the brink of civil war for years. He just needed to throw a little fuel to the fire," Chloe's responds through our earpieces.
"Charming," Nate says while he drives the the car we're in through the streets of Nepal.
"Yeah, well, all the chaos provides some cover while he destroys the city looking for the right temple," Chloe responds, and we drive past three men running with guns, not responding to Chloe unintentionally. "Nate... [Name]... hello?"
"We're still here," I respond while looking around the destroyed city.
"You're not having second thoughts, are you?"
"Who? Us? Never."
"Good- because I'm so ready to be done with these clowns and Harry is to. You two got a map?"
I unfold the map on my lap and hum, "Yeah."
"Okay. Meet me in the Old Market."
"All right, you got it," Nate says when a military truck comes whipping around the corner behind us.
"Uh-oh. We got company," I mutter while Nate slams his foot on the gas pedal and speeds up.
"Oh, great. Can you lose them?" Chloe asks and the military truck starts to gain on us.
"I think it might be too late for that," Nate replies, and the large truck behind us hits the back of our truck.
Nate tries to speed up more when the truck bumps us again, knocking the spare tire off the back off our car.
"Fuck," Nate swears and he goes to turn a corner when the truck hits the side I'm sitting in. Our truck is flung through the air and I black out when I hit my head on the front dash.
~
My eyes slowly open and I look up to see I'm leaning against a broken wall beside Nate, but he's shooting at someone.
"Nate..." I trail off and the shooting stops.
"You're awake. Thank God," he says while I slowly stand up.
"What happened?" I ask while feeling some dried blood on my face.
"Our truck was sent flying and you passed out."
I slowly now and we start to jog down the street. We make our way past a flaming bus when it explodes, sending us flying back. Nate and I both hit the cobblestone streets and we groan in pain. Something warm trickles down my head and I touch it before looking at my hand to see blood. I scowl and wipe the blood off on my pants before slowly standing up.
Nate stands up beside me and he sighs while looking at the path we were originally heading down, "Well, I guess we're not going that way."
We jog over to a sign, climbing up it and jumping to some metal bars on a wooden pole. We jump from there and grab onto a blue pipe, grabbing some bricks beside us and climbing around the building. I jump from the brick and grab onto another sign, climbing over the top and jumping to the one across from me. I push myself off the sign, grabbing the edge of a window sill and pulling myself into the building.
Nate follows me in, and we jump out of a hole in the wall and swing from a light fixture into a destroyed bathroom in the apartment across from the one we were just in. We hit the floor, and it crumbles before collapsing under us. Nate shouts as we fall into rubble below us, making dust float into the air.
"We're practically in the middle of a war right now," I grumble while standing up and dusting myself off.
We walk over to a book case and climb up it, jumping through the air and grabbing onto the broken wooden floor above us. We pull ourselves up and run up the stairs before jumping over a table. We climb onto another bookshelf and go to pull ourselves onto the roof when a military chopper appears several meters above us.
"No way," Nate says and we step onto the roof and jump across onto a small roof across from us. I sneak up behind a soldier and snap his neck, before jumping off the roof and grabbing onto a sign. I drop down and grab the top of the sign below me, dropping down a few more times until my feet hit the stone ground.
Nate lands beside me and we stealthily take out two of the soldiers. I take the FAL rifle off one of their bodies and collect some ammo for it from the soldiers pockets. Nate joins me and we run towards one of the buildings with a large hole in the wall, peering in to see a few soldiers.
They walk out of the destroyed building and Nate and I sneak in and take cover behind a pillar, and part of the stone wall. I look outside and count the amount of soldiers I see, flashing five fingers to Nate so he understands. He nods and I pull out my pistols, aiming one at a gasoline can two of the soldiers are standing by. I pull the trigger and the bullet hits the can, making it explode and kill both men.
Nate shoots the guy standing on a balcony, making the other two soldiers pull out their guns and start shooting at us. We quickly take cover again and I let a few seconds pass by before, peeking to the side and firing my gun. The bullet hits one of the guys in the chest and he stumbles back and slides down a wall, dropping his gun and going still. Nate takes out the last soldier when men with body shields start walking towards us.
I grab a grenade off my belt and pull the pin, tossing the grenade behind them. They look over their shoulder and the bomb goes off, killing the three soldiers. Nate shoots the fourth soldier, when another one pops up from behind a barrel. I shoot him in the head with my pistol and Nate takes out another one that comes around a wall.
"I think that's it," Nate says and we start to leave cover when a military truck comes rounding the corner, blocking the path.
"Oh no," I mumble as some of the soldiers jump out of the truck, while a guard shoots at us with the machine gun on top of the truck.
I grab another grenade off my belt and I pull the pin before throwing it blindly, hoping it's far enough. The seconds tick down and the bomb goes off, the shooting stopping immediately.
"No way..." I trail off and peek out to see I caused the truck to explode which killed all the soldiers.
"Well, seems I won't be needing this. Nice throw, [L/Name]," Chloe says while standing on a blown up car with a rocket launcher rested on her shoulder.
"Chloe," I smile and she tosses the rocket launcher to the side.
"Ooo- is that an Ancient Tibetan ritual dagger in your bag?" Chloe smirks while taking the dagger out of my bag.
"You'd be right."
"So this is the key to everything?" she asks us.
"Yes it is. Marco Polo's passport to Shambhala," Nate tells her.
"What do we do with it?" Chloe asks and I smile sheepishly.
"We have no idea," I tell her while taking the dagger back and looking at it. "But I do know that Lazarević won't get very far without it ."
"Don't underestimate him. Flynn has him distracted with tearing this city apart, but that won't last long. So, what's our next move?" Chloe asks and I laugh while showing Nate the symbol on the dagger and nodding my head to a different symbol on the arch we're by. His eyes widen and he grins and wraps an arm around my shoulder, making Chloe sigh, "I hate when you two do this."
I smirk and Nate moves away from me and shows her the symbol on the dagger. "Look up there," he says and points to the sign on the arch of the temple.
"Okay, I see the resemblance... so what does it mean?" she asks and I look at her.
"It means we know how Marco Polo found his next clue. The temple we're looking for is going to be marked with this emblem," I explain while walking over to a destroyed car, taking a seat on the hood of it. "Now all we have to do is find it."
I pull out my map of the city, unfolding it and laying it on my lap. "You do realize there are literally hundreds of these temples throughout the city?" Chloe laughs and Nate nods his head.
"Yes, but if we found a higher vantage point..." he trails off.
Chloe smirks and looks at the two of us, "We can spot our hay in the needlestack."
"Isn't it needle in the haystack?" I ask and she sighs.
"I like hay in the needlestack better."
"Why would you look for hay in a needstack?"
"Why would you look for a needle in a haystack?"
"...Touché."
Nate face-palms, and Chloe chuckles, "Anyway, there's a hotel not far from here. It's easily the tallest building in the city."
"Then it seems we're going to a hotel." I put my map away, hopping off the car. Chloe leads Nate and I over to a red door in a dilapidated building. She tries to open it only to find out it's locked, making her sigh. "Nate, can you get the door?" I ask him, and he nods before running off.
"Harry bloody misses you. I swear he's like a pouting child when you're not around," Chloe tells me and I chuckle.
"Really?" I ask and she groans.
"Completely."
I shake my head with a small laugh when gunshots come from the other side of the door. Chloe and I exchange looks of concern and we grow nervous when the shooting stops. "Stand back!" Nate shouts and we move back as he kicks the door in.
"Thanks Nate," I smile at him, and he blushes.
Chloe smirks before running under a balcony and placing her hands on her knees. "I'll boost you up, Chloe," I tells her and I step onto her hand. She tosses me up and I grab the ladder, climbing up to the top. I hit the switch and the ladder lowers to the ground, making Chloe whistle to snap Nate out of la la land.
"Nate, we know you like staring at [Name]'s ass, but we need to get to the hotel," Chloe say to him while climbing up the ladder.
"Right, right," he says while climbing up the ladder.
I face-palm, before walking up the stairs and into an apartment. The other two follow me in and we enter a kitchen with wooden planks covering the middle of the door. I run and slide across the ground, going under the planks into the next room. Chloe and Nate follow after me, and Nate lifts up part of the beams that fell from the ceiling so Chloe and I can walk under.
"Any day now," he says as we saunter into the burning room.
"Don't want to get a splinter," Chloe tells him and I snicker as he lowers the beam and catches up to us.
We walk into a green room and back outside where gunshots fill the air. "Doesn't look like things are going too well for the resistance," Nate says, and we drop off a balcony and onto the ground.
Chloe joins us, and we take cover behind two statues. We peer out from behind the statues, spotting a bunch of soldiers- one of which holds a rocket launcher. Nate frowns and shakes his head, "I don't like these odds."
We press our backs back up against the statues and I lean towards my two friends, "Chloe, I'm sure you can break up their little party with a grenade. I'm going to higher ground so I can use my sniper rifle. Nate... you have ground duty."
"Gotcha," Chloe nods and we fist-bump each other.
I climb up a wall with exposed beams, reaching a balcony. I get into position with my sniper rifle, and I see Nate sneak up behind the guy with the rocket launcher, snapping his neck. He grabs the weapon and Chloe rolls the grenade into a group of the soldiers. The bomb explodes and kills a few guards, and Nate shoots one of the rockets into the temple. One of the guards starts running and I aim a bit ahead of him before pulling the trigger. The bullet embeds itself in his forehead and I start to snipe down more of the soldiers.
I shoot the last soldier and Nate throws a grenade into the back of the truck, exploding the guys in it. "There's more coming!" I shout while shooting the ones below me. Nate gets ahold of the machine gun and he starts tearing through the soldiers until they're all dead.
"That's the last of them," I say while putting my sniper rifle on my back and jumping off the balcony, onto the ground.
"This is the hotel, we just need to find a way up," Chloe says while I join her and Nate.
"[Name], we need you to lower the ladder on the fire escape," Nate tells me and I step on his hand.
He tosses me up and I grab the ladder, kicking the lever so it releases. My two friends climb up after me and we walk up the stairs. I jump off the fire escape and grab onto one of the signs on the pole, climbing around it and jumping onto a rooftop. I walk into the building when the elevator opens to reveal two soldiers, one with full body armor.
"Oh shit," I swear while pressing my back up against a pillar in the room.
I pull out the FAL rifle I took, shooting the head of the heavily armored soldier numerous times until his helmet breaks and my bullets pieces into his head. Nate takes out the other soldier with a shot to the chest and I run over to the open elevator. Chloe and Nate join me and I press the button for the top floor when it gets stuck mid way. I fall back into Nate and he catches me in his arms, setting me back on my feet.
"Can't we just have a small break for once," I mutter while Chloe and I pry open the elevator doors.
"Nate, GO!" we both exclaim as the elevator doors start to resist Chloe and I holding them open. We quickly push Nate through and let the doors shut, trapping us inside the elevator.
"I need to find the generator. Stay still you two," he tells us and I roll my eyes.
"Damn, I was really planning on jumping to my death." I snap my fingers while sitting down in the floor.
Chloe takes a seat beside me, and I lean my head against the glass windows of the elevator. "So, do you like anybody?" Chloe asks me and I raise an eyebrow.
"You were never one for boy talk," I eye her and she clicks her tongue. "But, who knows. Maybe I do, maybe I don't, or maybe I did."
Chloe groans and elbows my side, "Why do you have to answer questions so vaguely?"
I chuckle and shake my head, turning my head to look at her. "How about you? Anyone you find appealing?"
Chloe tries to hide a smile and I grin, "Oooooh does Chloe have a lover?"
"He's more of a fuck buddy."
"Same difference. So who is it?"
"You don't know him. He's a really attractive guy though. Italian too."
I smile, before chuckling at a thought, "Hey, do you remember that job we did in Brazil?"
"How could I forget? We had to become strippers for the night just to steal the plans out of a clients pants," she says then smacks my arm a few times. "Oh oh oh, what about that time in Japan. When we were being chased down by some mercenaries and we snuck into a cosplay festival and hid there."
I laugh and nod my head, "So many people came up to us because they thought our cosplay was so cool. If only they knew that was actual dirt and blood on us."
Chloe chuckles and we continue to reminisce about some of our adventures together when the elevator beginning to move interrupts our talk. We stand up and it dings when we reach the top floor. "I guess Nate did it," she states and the doors slide open.
We walk of the elevator and over to Nate who grins at us, "Hope you two didn't miss me too much."
"Can't say we missed you at all," I joke and he feigns hurt while Chloe laughs. I smile and give him a short hug, "but in all serious, it's good to see you again."
"Well, we should keep moving you two," Chloe states and Nate leads us over to a wall with a ladder at the top. He kneels down and I step on his hand, allowing him to boost me up to the ladder. I grab onto the first rung and climb up to the top, hitting the lever and lowering it for the other two.
"Nate's enjoying the show a bit too much," Chloe chuckles and I smirk over my shoulder at the male who's biting his bottom lip while staring up at me.
"Focus, Nate," I tell him, and he and Chloe join me on the rooftop. We look around and I spot a pool, my eyes practically sparkling at the blue water. "There's a pool up here!"
I run forward and dive into the water, resurfacing and pushing some wet strands of hair out of my face. "Nate! Chloe! Come in," I say while swimming around.
Nate shrugs and jumps in and I close my eyes. "Marco!" I shout while the lapping of water goes quiet.
"Polo!" Nate responds and Chloe sighs.
I move in the direction I heard Nate's voice when someone swims below me and rises up. My eyes snap open and I squeal when Nate puts me on his shoulders and spins around. We both laugh and he looks up at me with a grin which I mean with my own.
"Okay you two. Shouldn't we be looking for a temple?" Chloe asks and we get out of the pool, completely drenched. She face-palms and shakes her head while looking at us, "You two are so unprofessional at times."
"It's all fun and games, Chloe," I tell her, and we jump over the railing onto the terrace part of the roof.
I run over to a wall and climb up to the highest point of the roof, looking out at the gorgeous scenery of Nepal. Nate and Chloe join me and I pull out my binoculars. "Now we just gotta find the right temple," I say while looking through the binoculars at all the temples. I continue looking around when I find the emblem on the golden roofs. "Bingo."
Chloe and Nate look at me and I point them towards the temple. "That's got to be the one. Though of course it's in the middle of all the gunfire and explosions," Chloe points out and I sigh.
"Honestly, I expected nothing less. Seeming it's like everything is working against us right now," I state and Chloe frowns.
"Plus, it's right where Lazarević is camped. I was hoping we'd be heading in the opposite direction," she informs us and Nate looks down at her.
"Well, desperate times, right?" he asks and she takes a deep breath and exhales.
The radio on her belt starts to make a staticky sound and finally a clear voice comes through belonging to Lazarević, "Drake and [L/Name] have been spotted in sector eighteen."
"Ah, shit... any chance this is sector nineteen?" Nate asks when military helicopters fly over the city.
"Sweep the city! Find them, and take them out!" Lazarević orders from the radio.
The three of us exchange looks of annoyance, and I sigh while stepping up to the zip-line on the rooftop and hooking my gun over it, "What a day this has turned out to be."