Chapitre 9: Chapter 9

As Lara navigated the glacier caverns, something caught her eye—a massive wooden ship lodged in a frozen waterfall. 'A Byzantine war galley,' she thought, her mind racing with possibilities. 'After all this shit ends, I could recover it. It'd look amazing on my property.'

She continued on, the echo of her footsteps absorbed by the icy walls. Soon, she came across a deep, dark hole that cut through her path. Peering down, she muttered, "That's pretty deep." Taking a few steps back, she pulled out her ice picks and leapt toward the ice wall.

With precise, calculated movements, Lara drove her picks into the frozen surface. Swing by swing, she scaled the wall. Reaching the ledge above, she hoisted herself up and continued onward.

After more walking, the cavern gradually opened up, and she stepped out onto a cliff. The biting wind greeted her, but her focus was on the view ahead. Below her lay the sprawling remnants of a Soviet installation, its weathered structures standing against the icy wilderness.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" demanded a girl with pale skin, red hair, and striking blue eyes. She wore a green and brown tunic lined with fur and chainmail, brown leather trousers, boots, and fingerless gloves. Her outfit was adorned with white gaiters, several belts, and gold patterns around the collar. On her bow arm, she sported a bronze gauntlet.

Lara turned around to face her, immediately recognizing her as Sofia, Jacob's daughter. 'She looks just like in the game', Lara thought, 'but more human, more natural, like a real person.'

Sofia had her bow drawn, the arrow aimed directly at Lara. Raising her hands, Lara smirked and said, "That's a terrible pick-up line, but nice Byzantine outfit style."

"Don't joke with me. Are you with Trinity?" Sofia snapped.

Lara chuckled lightly. "I'm not. I'm here to stop them from getting what they want."

"We can stop them ourselves," Sofia said curtly, her voice filled with defiance. "So leave."

Lara smiled knowingly and replied, "That's a lie. You're already struggling just to keep up with Trinity. But when the Soviets and Hydra come here in full force, you're all going to get slaughtered."

Sofia froze mid-step, her sharp eyes narrowing. She turned back to Lara, her bow still drawn, and demanded, "What do you know?"

Lara, lowering her hands, began to casually circle around Sofia, her voice calm but firm. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. So, I suggest we work together. Besides," she added with a sly grin, "I know where your father is—Jacob."

Sofia hesitated for a moment before asking, "Where?"

Lara walked toward a rope tied to a stump, which stretched down to a tree below. Pointing toward the Soviet installation visible in the distance, she said, "In that Soviet installation, inside the gulag prison cell. I'm going to get him out."

Before Sofia could ask how Lara knew this, she had already jumped onto the rope, using her ice pick to slide down with ease. Over her shoulder, Lara called out, "See you later!"

Sofia stood there, shaking her head. She didn't follow. The Soviet installation was swarming with Trinity forces, and she wasn't about to risk her life in such a reckless manner. 'That girl is insane,' Sofia thought as she watched Lara disappear below.

At the same time, below the cliff, Lara moved stealthily through the Soviet installation. Sticking close to walls, fences, and train wagons, she overheard a group of Trinity soldiers talking nearby.

"Do you really think the boss is right? That after we get the Divine Source, we'll become an immortal army and create the perfect world?" one soldier asked, his tone uncertain.

Another soldier snickered. "Nah, but the money we're gonna get is good."

A third soldier chimed in, "You dumbass, if the stone we're trying to find doesn't work or isn't worth anything, do you think anyone's gonna pay for it enough to drown us in money?"

The first soldier, clearly offended, swung his fist and punched the third. "Don't call me a dumbass, you fucker!" he shouted as the two started brawling.

Watching the chaos unfold, Lara raised an eyebrow. 'If this is the quality of every Trinity soldier, these idiots aren't worth absorbing into my organization', she thought. 'Let's hope they're not all like this.'

Noticing the remaining soldier sitting idly on a barrel and paying attention to the fight, Lara crouched low and crept up behind him. Before he could react, she grabbed his face and neck, muffling his scream as she dragged him behind a train wagon. The soldier struggled and flailed, but he had no chance against her strength. With a precise chokehold, Lara knocked him out cold.

Returning to the scene, she saw that the "dumbass" soldier had won the brawl, knocking out his opponent. He turned around and started to ask, "Where's the newb—" but didn't get the chance to finish. An arrow from Lara's bow pierced straight through his eye, killing him instantly.

Lara scanned her surroundings to ensure it was safe, then retrieved her arrow. Without wasting any time, she continued on her path toward the gulag.

As Lara advanced further toward the gulag, she encountered more Trinity soldiers. If they didn't block her path, she avoided them, but those who stood in her way were either knocked out or killed swiftly and silently.

Eventually, she arrived at a yard dominated by a medium-sized Lenin statue. Several Trinity soldiers patrolled the area, and a tower in the corner had a rope extending into the next section of the Soviet installation.

Scanning the soldiers, Lara drew her bow and focused on a lone guard pacing on the first floor of the building ahead. Aiming carefully from behind some crates, she let the arrow fly, silently taking him out.

Turning her attention to the soldiers in the yard, she noticed one who was slightly isolated from the others. She nocked another arrow, drew back, and dropped him just as efficiently.

The remaining soldiers were grouped tightly together. 'Time to try out this beauty,' Lara thought, pulling a small cylinder from her pouch. The Stark Industries logo gleamed faintly in the dim light. She pulled the pin and lobbed it into the center of the group. The canister hissed as it released a thick cloud of gas that spread rapidly through the area.

The soldiers, alarmed, raised their guns and shouted as they scanned the surroundings. Some tried to escape the gas, but before they could fully clear the radius, they stumbled and collapsed.

Stepping out of her cover, Lara smirked. "Tony was right—Stark nerve agent really is top quality."

As she made her way toward the tower, she stopped at the Lenin statue, examining it with curiosity. "You'd look great in my collection," she mused. "I also wonder what you'd think about Colossus invoking your ghost as an exclamation."