Uncharted 4: Noah's Ark - The_Alpha_Gray_Wolf (2024)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter Text

Do you seriously suppose that we were unable to prove our point when even to this day the remains of Noah's Ark are shown in the country of the Kurds?

Epiphanius of Salamis (A.D. 4th century)

June 14, 2038

Maui, Hawaii

The water was warm against her skin, just as she liked it, it's what caused her to not want to move from her position. If she so much as lifted herself only a few feet out of the tub then she'll be hit with a cold breeze and she wasn't fond of that idea, especially since this hot tub wasn't filled with too hot or too cold water and it was nighttime, but warm water that was just right.

Cassie Drake settled in the hot tub and closed her eyes as she let the water relax her muscles. There was not a care in the world as she sat in the jacuzzi, nothing to worry about. Not graduations coming up or the fact that the civil war in Italy has finally come to a conclusion, with the anti-Fascist side of the war winning.

Cassie turned twenty-four two over a week ago and she didn't feel any older but she knew that as time passed, the older she got and the closer she was to death. She calls herself immortal for practically surviving everything that was thrown at her during her adventures but she could not escape the aging process. Her lifespan was getting closer to an end as she got older and there's nothing she could do about it.

That's why I gotta live life to the fullest.

Eventually, she reached the limit of the hot tub when it lost its temperature. She sighs in dismay before climbing out, grabbing a towel that had been wrapped out of a chair, and secured it around her body, drying herself off.

Her dirty blonde hair had darkened from submerging herself for half a second and she scrubbed the towel against her hair as hard as she could.

She found this hot tub at a resort not too far from her own house. She was almost done with all of her college classes, got her credit, and was one step closer to graduating with everything she wanted. Just a few more days and she'll be graduating with her Master's and PhD in archaeology.

She had been attending the University of Hawaii in Maui for seven years and majoring in archaeology while minoring in anthropology. She has studied all kinds of archaeology: Classic, Medieval, Marine, Bible, the whole nine yards.

She took the towel with her back into the building, where the lights had been dimmed and there was only one person working at the counter. She checked the wristwatch on her right hand and saw that it was already eleven o'clock. The pool and jacuzzi are always closed around ten o'clock but the person behind the counter made an exception for her, seeing that she recognized her as the legendary Cassie Drake.

Cassie liked the sound of that. She was finally known as Cassie Drake, not 'Cassie Drake, The Daughter of Nathan Drake'. Her goal was to achieve her own legacy and she succeeded. All it took was looking for Hawaiki on Easter Island, Ultima Thule in Iceland, Atlantis in the Bermuda Triangle, the Cold Iron in Bosnia, Cleopatra and Antony's tomb in Saudi Arabia, the Philosopher's stone in France, and most recently, Scholomance in Transylvania.

Good times,Cassie thought as she made it to the elevator and pressed the button leading to her floor.Those times were fun.

As the elevator floated into the air, Cassie looked down at the ground.

And with me graduating, I'll have more free time to do that. Derek and I, we'll go on plenty more adventures.

Then she felt her heart drop to her stomach and it was not from the elevator ride.

Derek.

She touched her heart.

This burning feeling in my chest, it's only getting more persistent. Why does my heart beat so loudly whenever I think of Derek? Is it because my feelings for him are getting stronger?

The elevator stops on her floor and she departs from the elevator. She used the key which she kept hidden in her bikini top to open the door leading to her room.

She laid her towel on her bed before she went into the bathroom to grab her pajamas for the night. She turned on the shower and stripped out of her bikini.

I just went to a hot tub session but who knows what germs were in that water. Better safe than sorry.

She washed away all traces that she was in a hot tub.

After she was done, she climbed out of the shower and changed into her pajamas before turning in for the night.

The difficulty of turning in, however, was discovering that she could not sleep so easily. The sounds of her heartbeat were keeping her up. She tossed and turned, slept on one side of the bed before switching to another and she still hadn't gone to bed. She checked the wristwatch she left near her bedside table and found that it was barely twelve-thirty. She had been rolling around like crazy for the last forty minutes and was still unable to get any sleep. She had been closing her eyes and seeing darkness for what felt like forever but she eventually fell asleep.

When she woke up, she was blinded by sunlight coming from the window which reminded her that she failed to close the curtains last night.

No use crying over spilled milk.

She checked her watch.

It's eight o'clock and I have to be at school at ten.

She quickly grabbed her belongings, changed into casual clothing, checked out of the resort, and drove over to the University of Hawaii in Maui.

Her first class was classical archaeology, which she sat through like a knife through butter, learning things she had already taught herself and barely had enough time to make it to her biblical archeology class.

She pulled out her Bible and set it on the desk, already prepared for the day.

She looked over to her left to see an empty seat.

Derek doesn't have any classes with me on Tuesdays.

The professor told them to open the Book of Exodus, they were going to study the story of the Crossing of the Red Sea.

I've heard that story a bazillion times,Cassie thought.Is the legendary Cassie Drake going to die due to boredom? Well, I've seen people die in creative ways so I wouldn't be surprised. Not ideal though.

After almost two hours of listening to the old professor ramble about the Staff of Moses, Cassie finally fell asleep. Only a second later, the bell woke her up. She jumped out of her seat, taking her bible and books with her, and headed off to the third period of her routinely scheduled day: Medieval Studies

Medieval Studies, the one class everybody hates. How can Derek stand those stories about King Arthur?

That class went faster than usual and by the time she knew, it was time for lunch.

Just as she sat down at her table with a lunch tray in her hands, she was approached by two boys, one of them holding something behind his back.

"What's up?" Cassie said to the two young adults.

The duo grabbed pulled out a chair each before sitting down, the man on the left keeping whatever he was holding out of sight by hiding it under his chair.

The man on her left to her was of average height, slightly chubby, had light brown hair with bangs, blue eyes, a chiseled jaw, and appeared to be at least twenty-five.

"Cassie Drake," the man said. "It is such an honor to be able to talk to the legendary Cassie Drake herself."

Cassie shook his shaking hands.

"I see my reputation proceeds me," Cassie smiled.

"My name is Anthony Worthington."

The man on her right was a tall and skinny man with wavy red hair and brown eyes and freckles. He introduced himself as 'Albert Hurt-Watkins'.

"So what do you want?" Cassie asked. "An autograph, a picture for posterity, the answers for the quiz I took in Marine archaeology? I'm open to all of those except the last one; I have some morals."

Albert and Anthony looked at each other with hard looks before Albert picked up the object he was hiding and put it on the table.

This object looked like a treasure chest but small enough to be held with both hands. It was painted blue with Hebrew writing across all sides and on top looked to be a painting of some kind of log but upon closer inspection, she realized that log was actually a boat.

"What is this?" Cassie asked before smiling. "A birthday present?" She checked her watch. "Sorry, but my birthday passed over a week ago but I appreciate the gesture."

Albert and Anthony looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Have you heard of Alexander Goldman's Challenge?" Albert asked.

"No. But I've heard of Alexander Goldman. He's an explorer from the early 2020s who is said to have found several pieces of mythical objects around the world."

Albert nodded. "Right, Goldman is said to have found five pieces related to mythical objects and before he passed away three years ago, he put those pieces in chests of various sizes and hid them throughout the United States with clues and riddles behind on his website to find the locations. The challenge is to find these treasure boxes and find the mythical object said thing was once a part of."

"Huh," Cassie smirked. "So everybody gets a chance to be Indiana Jones?"

"The largest of the chests was found in Washington D.C. The one we have here is the smallest on record."

Cassie picked up the small, handheld treasure chest and tried to open it until to realize that it's been locked.

"Why did you pass this on to me?" she asked. "Why not open it yourselves?"

"You see-"

Antony interrupted Albert. "We have tried to open that thing up with everything we got. We tried drilling into it, hammering into it, and even burning it but that thing is nigh-indestructible. Not even those guys in Washington D.C. could open up the big chest. So far, the only way to open the chest is to answer the riddle on the box."

Cassie shakes the box near her ear like she was hoping to hear something inside.

"And you thought I was the only one to solve the riddle." She touched her chest. "I'm flattered. But what's in it for me?"

"Whatever's inside that box," Albert said. "I don't care about finding mythical objects but you are your father's daughter."

Cassie grumbled. "In spite of that, thank you."

She looked over the treasure chest, going over every inch of it, checking for every detail to make sure she doesn't miss anything.

What mythical object could be inside?She wondered.Then again, these two guys said that Goldman found pieces belonging to various mythical objects and put them inside. Given that this is apparently the smallest chest on record, it'll probably be a stick or something but a stick to what?

She looks over the artwork on the box in hopes of getting an idea of how to solve the riddle of opening it.

A boat of some kind against the backdrop of a blue background with Hebrew written on all sides.

She flips the box to see what was on the bottom and saw seven reels that resembled the reels on a slot machine but the card symbols had been replaced with Hebrew writing.

Not a lot of people know Hebrew,she thought.Maybe I can unlock it if I spell a word in Hebrew but what word.

She starts spinning the reels absentmindedly without care, trying to see what words they spell if she had no context to begin with.

One word she managed to spell in Hebrew was 'Ark' on the first three reels

'Ark',she thought.Okay, so it's a least two words with the second word being ark because in Hebrew, the second word usually goes first and then the first word goes second. So I'm essentially reading this from right to left.

She turns the reel until the word 'Noel' turns up.

These seven letters either spell out a word with the last three letters being ark like 'bark' or ark is meant to reference a boat like the Ark of the Covenant or Noah's Ark.

Her eyes widened as she had an epiphany.

A boat, Hebrew writing, the word 'Ark', the word is 'Noah's Ark!'

She spun the reels until they spelled out 'Noah Ark'.

CLICK!

"I think I got it," she exclaimed to Anthony and Albert.

"Awesome," Albert chuckled.

"Open it!" Anthony said eagerly.

Cassie opened the chest, her heart pounding in anticipation of what could be inside.

A stick of bark.

A piece of wood about the size of a knife.

"That's it?" Cassie said with her jaw dropped. "That's what inside? A stick of wood?" She picks up the piece of wood. "How anti-climatic."

She suddenly gasps and the world around her goes dark. She loses her balance and tumbles onto the ground, landing on her ass with the piece of wood clutched tightly in her hand.

She could see nothing but a dark void as far as they eye could see but she could hear something being played over and over again in her head. At first, she was so disoriented that she couldn't make it out but once she cleared her head, she could make out the words.

Noah's Ark, Noah's Ark,Noah's Ark...

Make it stop!Cassie shouted at the voice in her mind playing like a broken record.

Must find Noah's Ark.Must find Noah's Ark.Must find Noah's Ark...

Noah's Ark? It's not real. No, the Great Flood couldn't have happened.

Noah, Noah, Noah...

Stop! Someone turn off that voice!

Cassie, you must find Noah's Ark.

No, I can't. I have school, I have work, I have graduation-

She felt herself stiffen when she saw a figure show itself before her vision. She couldn't see this person's face until they walked closer to her and kneeled, their facing closing in on hers.

"Derek?" she whispered.

Derek leaned forward, his lips getting closer to hers.

Cassie felt compelled to kiss those lips. She leaned in, her eyelids dropping until she bit her tongue and she winced.

Her vision came back to her and she suddenly became aware of her sitting on the floor, a crowd of students surrounding her, Derek Lowell himself kneeling by her side, and her face heating up.

"Cassie," Derek panicked, "are you okay?"

She was wanted to say something but she lost the will to speak when she stared into the hazel-brown orbs in his eyes.

Oh my god,Cassie thought in her mind and felt her face burn like a furnace,I almost kissed Derek.

She remembered the piece of wood she was carrying and looked down at it, staring at it like she was staring into an abyss.

What the hell did you do to me?

Chapter 2: Walk Away

Chapter Text

What the hell did you do to me?

"Are you okay, Cassie?" Derek asked what felt like the hundredth time.

Cassie found the strength to pry her eyes with contacts off the stick of wood and into Derek's hazel-brown eyes.

The last time she saw Derek, he had a five o'clock shadow but she could tell he shaved recently. His curly brown hair had been trimmed a short time ago but remained thick. The only physical trait of his that seemed to remain consistent through the haircuts and shavings was his muscular arms.

It's been so long since I've seen his six-pack,Cassie thought.

Then she remembered the situation she was in and felt like she was going to explode with embarrassment.

"Yeah," she said quickly. "I just remembered that I forgot to finish my fifty sit-ups routine this morning and I decided to finish."

She put her arms across her chest and started doing sit-ups.

The collection of students around her chuckled with some recording her.

Derek laughed with a shrug. "If you say so, Cassie-Blanca." He notices the stick of wood that she was still in her hand. "You starting an antique stick collection?"

Cassie felt her lower lip quiver but she didn't slow down in her faux sit-up routine. "It's a really cool stick. Maybe I'll sell it on the black market."

Albert and Anthony looked at each other and groaned.

"That's what was in the box," Albert grumbled under a whisper that was barely loud enough for Anthony to hear.

"A stick," Anthony grumbled back in equal volume. "What a waste of our time. Let's get out of here."

After two more minutes of doing sit-ups, the crowd of students around Cassie got bored and went back to their meals.

Derek held a hand out to her (which she accepted) and pulled her to her feet.

"Cassie, there are two things we know for sure," Derek began. "One: I look good with a five o'clock shadow and I should let it grow out again. And two: You didn't fall for no reason."

Cassie shrugged. "Well, you always pass out whenever you see me without a shirt."

Derek's face turned peach-red. "Stop referencing Iceland," he nearly snapped.

"Come on, Derek, whenever I take off my shirt in front of you or you see more skin than usual on me, you pass out like a grandmother being proposed on her birthday." She laughed. "But in all seriousness, I didn't fall for no reason." She holds up the stick. "And despite your jokes from earlier, I believe that thisisan antique stick."

Derek laughed. "How would you know."

Cassie pointed to where Albert and Anthony were sitting only to find their seats empty. She looked around the library and there was no sign of them. The treasure chest remained in its place.

She absentmindedly put the stick down on the table before picking up the box, looking over it one more time, and checking to see if there was something else hidden inside the box.

"Have you heard of Alexander Goldman's challenge?" she asked.

Derek nodded. "Yeah, five treasure chests that contain objects relating to a mythical object." He points at the box. "That is a Goldman's Chest?" He looked at the piece of wood. "And this is related to some kind of mythical object?"

He picks it up.

"Wait!"

Derek looked at her with confusion. "What?" He looks down at the wood in his hand and marvels over as if checking to see if he left fingerprints behind. "Was I not supposed to touch this?"

Cassie's brows furrowed.

What's going on? He's not seeing visions or anything?

Derek spun the wood like a fidget spinner before throwing it in the air and catching it with his other hand. "Let me guess: This is a piece of bark taken from the Tree of Life in Shambhala. Right on the mark, score one for Derek."

Why isn't he experiencing anything?Cassie screamed in her head.

She snapped herself out of her daydreaming, deciding that Derek's immunity to the visions could be put on the back burner for now, and handed him the box.

He looked over it much quicker than she did before looking back at her.

The Noah's Ark?" he asked.

"How'd you guess?" Cassie asked, the impressment in her voice.

"Are you forgetting? My father was a photojournalist who traveled all over the globe and took me with him. One of these temples I went to was dedicated to Noah's Ark and its painting was identical to this." He points to the box. "Except bigger, obviously."

"Obviously."

"You're not the only one with a globe-trotting dad."

"And you're not the only one with an older relative who served in the Navy." As soon as Cassie said this, she regretted it.

I miss you every day, Sully.

My mother was in the Navy and Cassie's grandfather Sully was in theNavy, Derek thought.I miss you as Cassie misses you, Sully.

Cassie sat down in her chair and Derek pulled out Albert's seat and set it beside Cassie's chair.

They both sighed deeply before Derek broke the conversation.

"So, does this mean you're up for another adventure?" he asked out of the blue.

Cassie shrugged. "No, these two guys told me about finding a Goldman's Chest and they said that I can have it and do whatever. I was skeptical about there being a piece of a mythical object inside but..."

Derek held up the wood. "This?"

"Based on the contents of that box, it's a piece that once belonged to Noah's Ark. The boat that Noah built when God decided to wipe all evil from the earth in a great flood, sparing Noah and his family along with a male and female of every animal that boarded the ark."

Derek slaps the wood down on the table. "The Noah's Ark is real? Are you kidding me?"

Must find Noah's Ark... Must find Noah's Ark... Must find Noah's Ark...

Cassie's eyes went wide and her breath was swept from her.

Who said that?

"D-Man, after everything our my parents went through and everythingwewent through, we should expect anything to be real. A mythical object from the bible is no exception."

Derek laughed. "You know what they say: Every myth has some element of truth. The four labyrinths constructed by Daedalus and the minotaurs that guarded them proved that the Greek myths were real to an extent. El Dorado, Iram of the Pillars, Atlantis, mummies, blah blah blah. If Noah's Ark is real, not only does it prove that someone from the bible actually existed but that the story surrounding the ark is true." He let that sentence linger. "The Great Flood is a real thing, not some myth."

"That's what I was thinking ever since I solved the riddle to open the box," Cassie supplied before sighing. "Can you imagine it: Traveling around the world to look for a mythical object to prove that something from the bible, somethingsupernatural, happened. Nowthatsounds interesting."

Derek's smile disappeared from his face. "Does this mean..."

Cassie already knew what he was asking. "Another life-and-death adventure where we travel halfway across the world looking for a mythical city and/or object and making sure it stays a myth?"

She had spoken with a smile but her smile vanished when she saw Derek's frustrated expression.

"Cassie," Derek began in a calm and collected voice, "don't tell me you plan on doing exactly that."

"Why do you always assume that I'm just going to automatically go on an adventure?"

"Becausethat'sthe kind of person you are." He puts the treasure chest down on the table next to the piece of wood. "Cassie, your father tried looking for lost cities not for altruistic reasons but for monetary reasons."

"He usually changes his mind halfway through the adventure," she justified.

"Youdistinguish yourself from him in that regard by going after lost cities for no reason at all; you're an adrenaline junkie."

"You're... forty percent wrong and why are you getting mad all of a sudden?"

"Because you don't care what happens to the treasure or to you after the adventure; youlikebeing shot at and encountering deadly traps. For the love of God, you get off on it."

Cassie winced as if she had been stabbed. "Now that there's a possibility that Noah's Ark is real, you shouldn't use God's name in vain." Cassie clenched her fists. "And so what if I like being shot at? I have always wanted to be an adventurer."

"Cassie, I've heard the stories your parents told you and they made it clear that they didn't want you to go down the same path as them."

Cassie grabbed a handful of her hair.

"I'm not going on an adventure. For Pete's sake, all I did was open a box with a stick inside that may or not be from a giant boat that housed a male and female of every animal in the world sometime in the B.C. era. Don't go out on a limb and insult me like that."

"Cassie, I know you and whenever you find something that will give you an excuse to fly to another country and look for a myth, I can predict your moves like a poker player." He stands up from his seat. "Cassie, I love going on adventures but I just don't like the reasons you're going. You're not going for some kind of big discovery, you're going because you like the danger you encounter. You like that your life is at risk and that if you make one wrong move, you die. Jesus Christ, if you go looking for Noah's Ark, then villains are going to be racing to kill you."

"What about you, Derek? Aren'tyouan adrenaline junkie?"

"I don't go on adventures to get shot at. When I went to Mongolia, it was to help you get out of prison and to stop a crime lord from stealing the Peaches of Immortality. Remember in Bosnia, you decided to go look for the Cold Iron to prevent that what's-his-name arms dealer from stealing it? All you had to do was walk away but you made it an excuse to go looking for it. Every adventure we've been on, regardless of the original reason, you care more about the thrill than the fact that you'll be breaking your mother and father's heart if you carelessly step into a room of spikes. I'm sorry, Cassie, but why not just take that piece of wood taken from Noah's Ark as a win and leave it at that."

Cassie stands up to meet his eye-line (a task already impossible since she was five-foot-nine to his six-foot-one) and said, "Leave."

"Cassie," Derek whispered softly.

"Walk away!"

Derek ground his teeth before nodding with clear hesitation. Without wasting a second, he turns and walks away, leaving Cassie where she stood, eyes from every student in the cafeteria looking at her.

Hours Later

After she finished all classes for the day, she got in her car and drove home. She had a dorm at the college but Derek was her roommate and she didn't feel like being in the same room as him, especially after the way he told her to be like her father.

How dare he say that?she thought as she pulled up to her parents' house.Thinking I don't care about my parents and I'm a selfish explorer.

She slammed the car door.

I've always wanted to go on adventures like my parents and now that I've gone on several, I wanted to make my own legacy. I never wanted to be remembered as Nathan Drake's daughter and I wish to distinguish myself from him. The world of archaeology is a very competitive world and you have to work hard to stand out.

She paused in the middle of the driveway when she realized something.

Maybe I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie but am I going overboard because I want to be better than Dad?

She didn't bother knocking on the door to her parent's house and used a key she had hidden in her wallet to unlock it.

"Mom? Dad?" she called. "Anyone? Yoo-hoo!"

Four calls and not a single answer.

"I think they abandoned me."

She remembered something and went to the counter.

"Since I'm going to stay for the night, I'll pay for my bed."

Ever since Cassie moved into the dorms and made it her home for seven years, she had to pay rent to spend the night at her parent's house. Being a part-time archaeology student and full-time treasure hunter, most of the money she gets is finder's fees from her expeditions or income from herpart-part-time job.

She pulled out money from her wallet and put it in an envelope and labeled it as 'rent'.

She headed to her room, dropping her backpack on the bed before crashing onto it.

Only then when she was laying on the bed did she realize that her parents had made it for her.

I remember sitting on this bed, playing Crash Bandicoot and beating Mom's high score with Vicky by my side.

She tapped the spot where Vicky would sit.

I miss you, Vicky. I hope you're having fun up in Heaven with Sully.

She sits up and grabs her backpack, taking out the treasure box she tucked away and pulling out the stick. As soon the stick made contact with her bare hands, she squeezed her eyes so tight she could feel herself getting dizzy.

She opened one eye on the stick before opening the other.

"What the hell?" she exclaimed. "Why isn't working?"

Was it all a hallucination? Was it all nothing more than some twisted game God decided to play on me because I cheated on that one math test?

She shook her head.

Nah, God has better things to worry about than me cheating. But if it was real then why wasn't Derek going wide-eyed and seeing hallucinations?

She laid down on the bed, setting the stick down on her lap and examining the treasure box.

I touched a stick that allegedly was part of Noah's Ark and now I'm seeing hallucinations. These hallucinations seem to be exclusive to me as Derek showed no symptoms. Maybe I should call him but if I call him and ask him something about Noah's Ark...

She shook her head.

"No, not worth it."

Maybe when Mom and Dad get home, I can have them take a look at it and determine for themselves if this is real and what I experienced is real or not.

Must find Noah's Ark... Must find Noah's Ark... Must find Noah's Ark...

Cassie's eyes went wide.

"Who said that?!"

She replayed the voice in her head.

"That voice saying 'Must find Noah's Ark... Must find Noah's Ark... Must find Noah's Ark...' is not my voice. Great, now my conscience is starting to manifest itself into an entity."

She put the stick back in the box, set it on the desk, before going into the bathroom to draw a bubble bath. She undressed and stepped in, taking her contact lenses off, intending to stay in the bath until she got bored.

After she finished her bath, she drew on her towel and changed into soft pajamas in her bedroom. She didn't want to bother herself with anything involving Noah's Ark for a while and focused on finishing her homework ahead of time.

After the clock hit nine o'clock, she climbed into her bed and drifted off to sleep.

Noah's Ark, if you're going to ambush me in my dreams then give me your best shot.

She dreamt of setting sail on a boat, rocking through the waves of the sea during a violent storm. She looked down at herself and realized that she was wearing a henley with brown cargo pants and her grappling hook hoisted around her belt loop She loses her balance and reaches out to balance herself on a rail.

A rail made of wood.

"Where the hell am I?"

"The Mediterranean Sea."

The wooden rail broke under her weight and she went falling over the edge, stopping herself by jamming the grappling hook into the wood and dangling.

A man with a white beard in a red robe peered over the rail and looked down at Cassie with an emotionless look on his face.

"Help me!" Cassie begged.

"Youmustfind Noah's Ark," the man declared. "Find Noah's Ark!"

Cassie looked down at the wood in her free hand and recognized it as the piece she found in the treasure chest.

The grappling hook broke away from the ark and she went falling.

Cassie's head jerked back as her fall suddenly stopped. She looked up and saw Derek leaning over the edge, arm stretched to his limit, and hand wrapped tightly around hers. He throws his other hand over and grabs her other hand and pulls her up.

He pulled her up until her elbows were touching the side and he looked at her in the eyes, his hazel-brown eyes staring into her soul.

"Cassie," he whispered almost desperately.

"Derek..." Cassie sighed.

She leaned in and was about to close a kiss on his lips when-

DING-DING-DING!

Cassie sprung forward and sat up in her bed, drenched in sweat, sighing heavily, clock ticking in the dead of night.

I didn't mean literally ambush me,she thought.

She wiped the saliva that she had been drooling and buried her face into her hands.

"I have to find Noah's Ark," Cassie declared, consciously and subconsciously.

Chapter 3: Religion or Mythology

Chapter Text

"I have to find Noah's Ark," Cassie declared, consciously and subconsciously.

"Cassie?"

I have to find Noah's Ark.

"Cassie?!"

I have to find-

"CASSIE!"

Cassie snapped out of her daydream and realized that she had been hit on the arm.

"You've been staring off into space for twenty minutes."

Cassie clutched her throbbing arm. "Ow, Mom. Child abuse!"

"You're twenty-four," her mother - Elena Fisher - scoffed. "Yet you'restilla child." She pointed to the man sitting across. "Like your father."

Nathan Drake laughed. "You love me for it though."

Cassie remembered what day of the week it was and what she was doing at the kitchen table having breakfast with her parents on the glass table.

After she woke from her vision aboard Noah's Ark, she went back to bed and woke up when the alarm clock went off. After that, she went out into the living room to get an apple from the fridge and saw her parents in the room, making her pancakes.

Remember what she told herself, she showed her parents the treasure box. She put the stick back in the box and locked it up, eagerly waiting for her father to work his magic and open the box.

She was halfway with a fork of blueberry pancakes to her mouth when her father opened up the box.

Time for the moment of truth,Cassie thought.Am I crazy or am I CRAZY!

Her father reached inside and picked up the stick.

Cassie narrowed her eyes.

What the hell? He's not going wide-eyed or anything. Am I really going crazy?

"That's it," Nate exclaimed, "I was hoping for something more."

"What is it?" Elena asked.

Nate handed her the stick.

Cassie watched with growing anticipation.

Elena played with the stick in her hand like it was nothing.

I really am crazy,Cassie thought depressedly.

"If this is supposed to be some kind of big-time treasure Alexander Goldman found then I don't get it," Elena said.

Nate laughed. "That's because you have to look at the box itself rather than the contents." He put the box down on the table and scooted it towards her.

Elena grabbed the box and looked over it. "Noah's Ark," she said quickly. "So this is a piece from..."

"Noah's Ark," Nate finished.

"Where did you find this?" Elena asked Cassie.

I must find Noah's Ark,Cassie thought.

Cassie shook her head like she was saying 'no' before answering, "A couple of guys from school said they found it and I could keep it."

"Looks like people are starting to recognize you," Nate said. "I'm proud."

Cassie sensed her father holding back. "But..."

"But I was hoping you'd be recognized without having to get yourself shot at."

Cassie rolled her eyes and groaned. "First Derek and now you? Why does everyone think I'm only in it to get shot at?"

"Derek told us," Elena answered. "From his perspective from most of your adventures, you start off with noble reasons but he suspects that you subconsciously enjoy the thrill. You could've turned back several times but you chose to stay and finish the adventure."

Cassie scoffed. "Mom, I am a treasure hunter and it comesnaturallywith the territory being a member of the Drake family."

"Not true; your father and I became legends through legitimacy."

"Well, I don'twantto become a legend through your ways. I want to stand out. I want to be known as Cassie Drake, not the Daughter of Nathan Drake."

"I don't see anything wrong with it," Nate said. "Between being chased by police and the paparazzi, I'd picked neither."

They don't understand,Cassie thought.They never grew up in the shadow of famous parents. Sure, Grandma was an adventurer but she wasn't well-known. I loved exploring with Mom, Dad, Uncle Sam, and Sully but now that I'm grown up and I know what I want, I want to become just as famous as them.

Then a voice in the back of her head starting nagging at her.

Then again, going on adventures just for the hell of it is just as fun.

Cassie reached over and grabbed the treasure box and put the wood back inside.

"There's only one way to know for sure if this thing is authentic," Cassie said.

"Let me guess," Nate began. "It involves a religious priest that studied Biblical archaeology in Turkey?"

Cassie looked at Nate with a smile. "I'm surprised you remembered him."

"I remember all your friends. Erkin and Joshua, I heard they're a lovely couple. Omaria, your friend from Egypt. Niko Lowell, Derek's cousin and of course, Derek himself."

"You missed one," Elena pointed out.

"And 'Bethany'."

Cassie nodded. "'Bethany'."

"You're going to deliver this to your priest friend to see if this is a real piece taken from Noah's Ark?" Nate asked.

Cassie nodded.

"What are you going to do if it's genuine? You going to go look for the boat?"

"Would you want me to?"

Nate hesitated. "I feel like this is a trick question."

Elena touched Cassie's hand.

"Cassie, do you believe in religion or mythology?"

Cassie hesitated to answer. She had been well-versed in religion and mythology for archaeological reasons but never for herself. She was aware that her father and uncle grew up in a Catholic orphanage.

That's how I knewLatin, Cassie thought.

"Both. Why?" Cassie asked with uncertainty.

"In some cultures, the Noah's Ark is religion, in others, it is mythology. Sometimes, it could be both."

"Why are you telling me this?" Cassie asked nervously.

"Because, to some people, not only in Turkey but from around the world, they don't agree with the story of Noah's Ark. Some cultures could be against finding Noah's Ark because they believe the Ark should only be found on Judgement Day or they don't want it to be found for whatever reason. Some would even go to extreme lengths for their beliefs on Noah's Ark. Be careful."

Cassie stared at her mother.

She must be suspicious that I might go out of my way to go on this adventure. Is she going to... tie me to a tree like a dog to make sure I don't go looking for Noah's Ark?

"I won't forget, Mom."

Cassie locked the treasure chest up and took it over to the workshop that her parents use for their discoveries.

Ahh, memories,Cassie thought.This is the room where my life changed forever.

She looked at the table.

The table where Dad left his keys.

She turned to the closet.

The skeletons... and treasures in the closet.

It brought a warm smile to her face as she held the treasure chest up to herchest.

She went to one of the cabinets to pull out a box big enough for the treasure chest to fit in before grabbing a stamp and writing the shipping and return address.

She took the box to the mailbox and just as she reached over to touch the mailbox, she paused as if time had frozen.

Her eyes and jaw went wide with saliva dripping from her lips.

Noah's Ark... Noah's Ark... Noah's Ark...

The voice talking in her head wasn't some stranger's voice, it washervoice and it sent shivers down her spine.

I can't be separated from this piece taken from Noah's Ark,she thought, consciously and subconsciously.

I must find Noah's Ark. I HAVE to find Noah's Ark.

I will hand-deliver this piece of wood to the priest himself in Istanbul and I will look for Noah's Ark. I have no idea how but I WILL.

I WILL find Noah's Ark.

Three Years Ago

Mount Ararat

"How much longer?" Astrid complained.

Sneaking past the people who guarded Mount Ararat like lapdogs was hard enough but climbing the mountain with the snow pouring over them had Astrid complaining.

Alexander Goldman, a man with white snow on top of his white hair and beard, didn't deter, even with the temperature seemingly dropping.

Goldman pulled out his GPS tracker and looked over it.

Must find Noah's Ark,he thought.Have to find Noah's Ark.

"Don't give up on me," Goldman said.

"Professor," Astrid began, "I followed you here so I can document you on your search. I was not anticipating us breaking laws by sneaking onto Mount Ararat for some wild goose chase."

"Are you going to flee like the others?" Goldman asked.

Astrid wanted to shrug but was afraid her frozen shoulders would break like ice. "I will if you can convince me that this is not some wild goose chase." She started rubbing her arms.

"Stay with me a little while longer, Miss Astrid. I will find us Noah's Ark."

Astrid's eyes went wide.

Noah's Ark, THAT'S what we're looking for? I sorta suspected that that was the case but to know it's actually true... what can we benefit from Noah's Ark?

"How do you know?"

"Because I have to find it."

Astrid narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the back of Goldman's head.

"Says who?"

For the first time since they climbed this mountain, Goldman suddenly felt himself to be cold.

Who am I looking for Noah's Ark for?he asked himself.

He became aware of the treasure box in his backpack.

I have the wood taken from Noah's Ark hidden in a box. Should I die, I wish for someone to look for it when I die.

He takes off his backpack and drops it in the snow.

If I die in the snow, someone MUST find Noah's Ark.

He starts walking forward, picking up his backpack before it could be buried in the snow.

Astrid followed, annoyed that her question wasn't answered.

Hours passed and the sun went down and they were still climbing aimlessly up the snowy mountain.

They took refuge in a cave and lit a fire with sticks Astrid packed in her bag for this very reason. She wasn't a smoker but it helped to have a zippo with her - it was a pain to constantly refill something you almost never use though.

I'll stick to matches nexttime.

Astrid held her gloved hands over the fire, giving her fingers an extra layer of warmth. She removed her hood and let the ice in her black hair thaw.

Though he was the one who lit the fire, Goldman opted not to warm near the fire and stood by the entrance to the cave, staring out like he was staring into an abyss, his backpack near the cave entrance.

"Sit down," Astrid insisted. "Warm up."

"I must find Noah's Ark?" Goldman said absentmindedly, almost as if he was asking himself a question he'd been asked by someone else.

Astrid blew her breath into her hands before rubbing them together. "Why?"

"I MUST find Noah's Ark!"

Astrid jumped at the raising of his voice and stared at the back of his head. She jumped to her feet when she saw him taking a step out towards the cave.

"No," Astrid snapped as she stepped in Goldman's path. "Going out atnightin this weather, no way." She pushes him back by the chest.

"I MUST find Noah's Ark!" He began walking forward.

Astrid was trying her hardest to push Goldman back but it was like trying to stop a truck from driving forward with one's bare hands.

"In the morning," she begged. "We'll go in the morning."

"I MUST FIND NOAH'S ARK!"

He grabbed her by the throat with both hands and began squeezing.

Astrid gasped and struggled, her eyes rolling to the back of her skull. "Wait!"

He tightened his grip and pushed her to the ground, digging his thumbs into the center of her neck.

Astrid soon ceased her struggles and went limp.

"I must find Noah's Ark..." Goldman chanted in a soft voice. "I have to."

He lets go of Astrid's throat and sighs as he sits on his ass, catching his breath. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, his breath becoming visible in a small cloud of fog.

GRRRRRRRRR...

Goldman felt his breath leave him when his mouth clamped up and his body went stiff and heknewit wasn't from the snow.

What the hell is that noise?

GRRRRRRRRR...

He heard the noise again and sat in the same position, frozen like a popsicle, daring not to move.

His eyes roamed over to the cave, looking to the right where the cave entrance was before looking over to the left, which had the campfire. He looked beyond the fire to see the darkness of the cave.

It was almost complete darkness except for a pair of eyes staring at him and he could tell by their shape and yellow pupils that they didn't belong to a human and if they were big enough that the eyes could be at least six inches apart from each then that meant-

Goldman screamed in terror and ran from the cave.

"I MUST FIND NOAH'S-"

He never got to finish his sentence as the creature lunged and caught the professor in his mouth, snapping his back before snuffing his life.

The Next Day

"Professor Goldman?" Richter, one of Goldman's weak-willed porters who spoke with a shaky German accent, called out in the cave.

He typed in the last known coordinates that Astrid had sent him on his GPS tracker and it lead him to this cave. The weather had started to cool down but that didn't stop him from shivering in his boots when he saw evidence of a campfire set up in this cave.

"Astrid, Goldman?" he called out again. "Maybe they moved on but why didn't Astrid type in her coordinates?"

He saw Goldman's backpack buried in the snow near the entrance and picked it up. He opened the bag up and found the handheld treasure chest inside.

Along with an envelope.

'To Whoever Finds This Backpack'it read.

Taking that as a sign of admission, he opens up the envelope and pulls out a letter that had been typed and printed.

'To whom it may concern if you are reading this then that means that I am no longer in possession of this treasure chest. I cannot find what it was that was inside this box and I have failed. But the object inside the treasure chest is not some random object; it is a piece of mythology turned into history. Whoever finds this letter, I pray that you follow the instructions written down on the back. Whoever can solve this box is destined to finish my adventure.'

Richter looked over the treasure chest and rotated it, polishing over every detail.

He takes out a walkie-talkie and speaks into it.

"569832 to 569897, it appears that Gold and 569844 are KIA. Subject has found a backpack with mysterious treasure box inside."

"Damn it," he heard over the radio. "I thought that we were going to strike gold with this one. Listen here 32, get out of there."

"What?"

"The only thing Goldman could've been looking for was Noah's Ark. There is no benefit for Noah's Ark to be in our hands. Get out of there."

"What of the backpack?"

"Do whatever you want with it but get out of there."

"What are we going to do? This wasn't supposed to be a wild goose chase."

"Our Leader said that we have a dealer searching for a mythical object in Bosnia and we'll pay him one billion dollars so this wild goose chase won't be a complete waste of our time."

"If you say so, commander. By the way, I love you, Claudia."

"Love you too, Richter."

Richter put his walkie-talkie away before turning back to the treasure chest.

"In hindsight," Richter spoke aloud, "what benefit can we gain from looking for Noah's Ark? It's a boat, nothing more. The boat didn't cause the Genesis Flood, only survived it. And what's the point of selling the boat when we have a lot of money in our arsenals? Yeah, Noah's Ark is not worth it."

He heard a sound that can only be described as an 'inhuman demonic howl' that echoed through the mountains. He jumped in his snow boots and ran for his life, taking the backpack with him, nearly falling over the edge of a cliff before catching himself and making it out of there.

Chapter 4: Watch Out

Chapter Text

Hours passed since Cassie's meeting with her parents at the kitchen table. She stared off into outer space blindly but not subconsciously. Her seat partner was none other than Derek Lowell himself and he could feel the tension radiating off of her like a heater in snow.

I don't want to deal with him today,Cassie thought.Why couldn't I just have this week off? I get into a huge fight with Derek and now I have to sit next to him for this class and next. The universe must be punishing me.

Derek tapped the sole of his sneaker against the ground like a drum in an erratic rhythmic fashion, slow at first before tap dancing against the ground.

Man, I can cut the tension with a chainsaw,Derek thought.

To distract himself, Derek looped over his notes and started scribbling down whatever came to mind. Since he was well-versed in Classical Archaeology, all he had to do was rewrite notes he's already taken.

When the professor turned their back to the class, he could feel the tension grow tighter like a noose around his neck. He tapped his pencil impulsively against his jaw and side-eyed Cassie.

Cassie returned the gesture and sighed heavily like she had been contemplating something for the last hour. She leaned in and whispered in a voice so soft that only Derek could hear…

"I'm going to Turkey."

She reels her head back like a fishing pole.

Derek leaned in and whispered in a voice so soft only Cassie could hear…

"What?"

He reels his head back like a fish pole.

Cassie leans in. "You heard me. I'm heading to Istanbul."

He grimaced. "To look for Noah's Ark?"

"Noah's Ark is on Mount Ararat, not Istanbul."

"Why?"

"I showed my parents that Noah's Ark wood piece and I want to confirm for myself if it is genuine or not. There's only one person whose knowledge surpasses us in biblical archaeology."

"The Priest?"

"The Priest."

Derek nodded. "It's been a while since we've seen Father and Bethany. Are you sure you're not going just to check in on them?"

Cassie shook her head. "The tragedy of a cold-blooded reptile truth is that I am not paying him a visit just to catch up."

I need to find out if the wood piece is real. If it is then here I come Mount Ararat.

"Cassie, I'm sorry if I made you so uncomfortable that you didn't want to sleep in the same dorm as I but-"

"I'm heading to Istanbul to see if it's authentic and nothing more."

Cassie looked over and saw him staring at her like a parent seeing through a child's lie.

"Given your recent history, we both knowthat'sa lie. Why are you telling me?"

"So you won't follow me under some false accusation."

He sighs and buries his face into his hand. "You are pissing me off because if you're going to Istanbul then I'm going with you."

Cassie flinched like she had been burned, mixed feelings swirling around in her head. On one hand, she wanted Derek safe and sound so he would not be looking over her shoulder like a helicopter mom. On the other, she has gone on so many adventures with Derek and the one thing she loves is that she gets to spend time with Derek.

"Why?" she asked.

"I have to make sure that you're protected at all times."

She wasn't a mind-reader but she suspected that Derek was telling half the truth.

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to? I amnotsome damsel-in-distress."

"I'm not saying you are," Derek defends himself. "But someone's gotta keep an eye on you."

"Ibetyou would love that you pervert."

Derek stiffened and lost his breath. "You know I'm not-"

Cassie chuckled. "I'm kidding."

Derek felt a knot untangle in his chest. "You're so going to pay for that later," he laughed.

"Get in line because I'm on several hit-lists."

They both laughed at the border of low-medium volume and garnered the attention of the professor teaching.

"Drake," the professor called out.

Cassie shut herself up and sat up straight. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Do you wish to graduate from this institution?"

"The food they serve here makes this place feel like an institution so yeah, I wish to graduate."

The other students laughed.

"You have your father's humor," the professor said, "how delightful. If you're going to disrupt the class then it's going to take a lot more than jokes to lift your suspension."

"Well, Mom always said I had a way of creating suspense."

The students laughed once more.

"If you got something to say to your boyfriend then save it for lunch. Back to work."

The students laughed at the teacher's comment while Cassie and Derek looked at each other awkwardly.

They got through the class without talking to each other and went it was time for lunch, Cassie wanted to sit next to Derek but there was a part of her that was still mad at what he said. Fortunately for her, she could not find Derek at any of the tables and opted to sit with a group of people.

Three girls, one with red hair, two with black hair.

"Hey-o, Cassie," the redhead said.

"What's up, Carla, your grades?"

"Still a straight B student just like I planned."

"Awesome." Cassie fist-bumped her. "Just a short while to go before we graduate."

"Yep and we'll be off in the real world, living like adults, dying slowly and painfully with 9-to-5 jobs."

"Do what you love and you never work a day in your life." Cassie took a bite of her grilled cheese sandwich.

"Man, I would love to live in a world where I don't have to work," Carla complained before sipping her apple juice. "I just want to stay at home and do whatever I want all day. But that's the world of children and I'm just going to have to go along with it."

"Don't you still live with your parents?"

Carla looked at her. "Don'tyourun to Mommy and Daddy when you have a falling out with your boyfriend?"

Cassie nearly choked on her grilled cheese. "Derek is not my boyfriend."

"He may not be your boyfriend but you care about him enough to not want to sleep in the same dorm as him as roommates after a big fight. Wake up, Cass, you are head over high heels for curly hair over there."

Cassie followed to where Carla was pointing.

Derek was sitting at a table with a group of his own that he hung out with.

"I was here yesterday when you guys got into a big fight. I was sitting in the back when it happened. I heard him telling you about the dangers of the lifestyle you choose to have and how he wishes you weren't in it for the thrill."

Cassie rolled her eyes with a sigh. "I want to become an archaeologist and I think it's good that I have a headstart." She took another bite of her grilled cheese. "To say all I care about is getting shot at..."

"Derek loves you," Carla said suddenly. "That's why he said those things to you."

Cassie swallowed before chewing completely and almost choked again.

"I've always suspected," she whispered, "I have always suspected that Derek may have a crush on me."

"No," Carla interrupted, "not a crush, a heart-on. Derek Lowell has a heart-on for Cassie Drake."

"I can tell," Cassie said dryly, "he said that whenever I go on an adventure, he has to come with me to make sure I'm safe-"

"That's twenty-five percent true."

Cassie shut up and stared at her friend. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She leaned in so her chest was touching the table. "I know people like Derek and what kind of attraction they feel for you." She nods at Derek. "Derekdoeslove you enough to want to protect you but he's not going on adventures with you for the sole purpose of protecting you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Derekwantsto spend time with you, plain and simple. He does want to protect you but it's like a parent's relationship with their newborn baby. The parent loves their kid with all their heart and while they're still a baby, they'll want to spend as much time with them as possible. Protecting them is an instinct, not an objective."

"So what you're saying is-"

"Derek loves you a lot that him saying that his only motivation of going to protect you is a lie. He wants to go to spend time with you. It was never about protecting you, only spending time with you."

"Then why did he get upset about me going on an adventure?"

She shrugged, which surprised Cassie because she seemed to have most of the answers.

"If you want to know why he got mad like you cheated on him, then you're going to have to ask him yourself."

Cassie nodded.

"Are you going on another adventure?"

"Yeah, Istanbul. Not an adventure per se but I'm going to confirm the authenticity of an artifact."

"Which will inevitably lead to you looking for the rest," Carla shrugged. "Yeah, youarepredictable Cassie but I'd be more cautious of Derek."

Cassie furrowed her brows. "Why?"

"Derek, he would follow you to the end of the world to spend time with you."

Cassie waited for Carla to finish her sentence but she got nothing but silence. "Aaaaaaand..."

"What would a father do for the daughter he loves?"

"Shut them up and subconsciously tell them not to go on another adventure?"

Carla shook her head with disgust. "I realized that I compared Derek loving you to a father loving a daughter, wrong metaphor. How about this: What would Romeo do to protect Juliet?"

"Fight for her?"

"Kill for her. Romeo would kill his relatives to protect Juliet, he would killdeathto protect Juliet. If Derek decides to join you on this adventure then be keep a sharp eye out."

"He would kill to protect me," Cassie finished. "He has protected me in the past before."

"No, he won't just protect you in active danger, hewillkill if it means eliminating potential threats. He'll probably hold someone at gunpoint and when that mercy is being pleaded for, if he determines that he's too dangerous to be around you, he'll kill that person in cold-blood."

Cassie's eyes widened. "Derek isnotlike that; he would never kill in cold blood. What the hell are you basing all of this off on?"

"I've been where you are, Cassie." She sighed and put her fist under her jaw. "It happened to my brother. He was in love with a girl, did everything in his power to protect her from people he deemed a threat to her but in the end, she was murdered and he lost-" he choked on the last word. "He's in his twenties but he has the mind of a child. A coping mechanism."

Cassie felt the feeling of a knife stabbed her in the heart and she knew what the feeling of a stab felt like. She touches her chest and chokes down the vomit that was about to burst from the bottom of her throat.

She looked at Derek at his table.

Derek would commit murder for me? No, I don't want for him to commit murder, especially not for my sake. I have only killed in self-defense. I have to-

Find Noah's Ark... Find Noah's Ark... Find Noah's Ark...

I have to find Noah's Ark.

She nearly jumped out of her skin.

Carla spoke again, "Cassie, if you don't want Derek to cross the threshold for you then let him know how you feel. That's the best advice I can give."

Cassie looked at her friend. "When did you suddenly become a psychologist?"

"When I majored in psychology and minored in philosophy."

Istanbul, Turkey

Standing outside a middle school in the parking lot, one hour after school ended, was a man dressed in black, around the height of five-foot-ten with short brown hair, long stubble, brown eyes standing against his car with his arms crossed over his chest.

When a teacher escorted a young girl with long brown hair that spilled over her shoulders and green eyes and a nervous smile on her face.

The teacher escorted the girl to the man and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

"Yağmur Sadik?" the teacher asked.

"I prefer Father," Sadik corrected.

"A priest?" the teacher guessed.

Sadik nodded. "Get in the car, Belinay."

Belinay pouted. "Sure thing, Uncle 'Father'."

She climbed into the backseat and slammed the door shut.

Yağmur turned back to the teacher. "What did Belinay do this time?"

Belinay looked out the window and stared at her uncle's nodding head as the teacher rambled on and on for what felt like hours. After five minutes (according to the time on the dashboard), her uncle climbed into the car and drove off.

"Teacher's told me you've been suspended," Yağmur said with a nonchalant voice. "He told me you got into a fight. He told me that a boy was picking on another boy and you hit him over the head with a book."

"See," Belinay cheered, "I'd knew you'd understand."

"Belinay," Yağmur spoke softly as they stopped at a red light. "Do you know how old the boy was that you hit?"

"Should it matter?"

"Yes, it does matter."

"He was six years old."

"Six. Years. Old."

The way he hissed each syllable made Belinay chill.

"How old are you, Belinay?"

"Thirteen."

"You are thirteen years old and you smacked a six-year-old over the head with a book."

"But he was bullying that kid-"

"No!" Yağmur shouted. "What have I always told you about violence?"

"But-"

"Answer the question!"

Belinay flinched before sighing. "Never throw the first punch."

"Think first, act second. You use violence only on people who can stand up to you and even so, youneverthrow the first punch. That six-year-old, all you had to do was separate him from the boy and not only did you attack him, but you also assaulted him with a weapon."

"God would approve of me taking care of my flock."

"You are not a shepherd, you are a part of the flock."

The light turned green and they waited until the next red light before continuing.

Yağmur looked at Belinay in the rearview mirror.

"Belinay, had it been someone your age, I would still be upset with you. God gave us the freedom to fight and defend our flock but not to go out of our way to attack someone. The fact that this is a defenseless child you beat up is adding insult to a wound."

They drove up to their home and pulled up in the driveway.

"Belinay, you're going to be punished."

"For defending someone?"

"For initiating unnecessary violence and for hurting a six-year-old. As soon as we get inside, I want you to go to your room and write an apology letter to that kid."

"You can't be serious."

"Youwillapologize to that kid's parents for giving him a fracture."

Belinay's eyes widened. "What?"

"That teacher told me the boy suffered a fracture. You're going to write an apology for giving that boy a fracture."

"I-I," Belinay stammered, feeling her heart race. "I didn't mean to give him a fracture!"

"What do you think happens when you hit someone over the head with a weapon? Now get in the house and go to your room." He looked at Belinary with a sorrowful look in the rearview mirror. "This is why you never initiated violence, especially if it's unnecessary. Self-defense, that's different because if they get a fracture, that's on them butyoustruck first and you injured someone who is weak to you. Consider yourself lucky because the parents aren't going to press charges."

Belinay felt her face redden and tears starting to gather in her eyes.

That's a fate worse than prison,Belinay thought,going home with the knowledge that I fractured a six-year-old boy's skull without going to jail.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out of the car. Walking to the house, she stopped near her uncle's window. He lowered it for her to speak.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to."

Belinay nodded silently before running into the house.

Yağmur stayed behind in the car and closed his eyes, a stabbing feeling in his chest. He looks out the window and up into the blue sky.

God, please forgive me for I have sinned.

He cupped his hands together and prayed.

I lied about that boy having a fracture but I did it so she could feel remorse for her actions. Ever since her parents passed away, she's been feeling distant. I don't want her to fall into the same activities my brother and her father were a part of. Please forgive me for lying, God but it's all I know how to do right now. Please, God, please help me find a way to help her without lying to her.

Chapter 5: Barış ya da savaş

Chapter Text

Istanbul, Turkey

The Bazaar

The warm breeze against his skin made the man grateful he was wearing a muscle shirt to experience this amazing weather. He shivered and sighed at how warm the weather was and how his skin felt.

I promised that I would give up smoking,the man thought,but one cigarette at a time.

He pulls out a pack of Murad's and removed one. He held one in his mouth and pulled out a zippo and flicked it but the sparks went out before becoming a flame.

"Bok," he cursed in his native language.

The woman standing beside him laughed. "Can't light your cigarette, must be God telling you to quit."

The man removed his cigarette. "I've cut down to smoking twice a day, which is half of what I used to smoke."

The woman tapped the man's throat. "I'm grateful. I don't want you to get a hole in your throat." She looked over her shoulder to look at something. "I'll be right back."

She walked off into the crowd of the street, passing several kids writing their bikes before making it to a stand. She asks the woman running the stand something before taking out a lighter and flickering it on, showing a flame for a few seconds before cutting it off.

The woman pays the stand owner and takes the zippo before running back to the smoker's side and lighting the cigarette for him.

The smoker took a long drag before exhaling deeply.

"You're so good to me, Lelya," the smoker said, "helping me fight this smoking addiction, I don't deserve you."

Leyla smiled. "The same could be said about you, Burak. My ex-boyfriends would never give up their unhealthy habits for me."

Burak laughed. "My ex would always let me fight my addictions alone. You're such a good wife."

Leyla kissed him on the cheek. "You're such a good husband."

He took another drag and blew the smoke in the opposite direction of Leyla's face. He looked down at his watch.

"Overlord gave us a second chance and we're not going to waste it. That's why we must stop at nothing to complete Operation: Aaron."

Leyla nodded with a clenched jaw. "We busted our asses off to become high-ranking members of Overlord. All the people that we've killed, innocent and guilty, it must mean something."

"If it means something to our son then I'll kill anyone who stands in Overlord's way." He took another drag and continued to blow in the opposite direction of Leyla's face. "If what our agents in Hawaii said is true then Cassie Drake will be coming to Turkey. I have no idea what her motive is but if she gets wind of Overlord in Turkey then who knows what she'll do. She wiped out Zaman and Wolff's group and according to Alice, Beck, and Carter, she destroyed Vita Longaandthe Philosopher's Stone. Cassie Drake is a very dangerous woman and I would kill her but our Leader wishes for her to be alive because she could prove to be an invaluable asset if we play our cards right."

"So, you want to kill Drake for coming to Turkey but orders say to spare her. Stay out of her way at all times, I say."

"We can't risk it; if she's coming to Turkey, it's most certainly not for the adventure of it. She's coming to Turkey for some reason. Operation: Aaron is already in effect and if she finds out what Overlord is doing, she could prove to be problematic. We aresoclose to tackling Operation: Aaron that we can't afford to back down. As a precaution, we should distract her until we've reached a breaking point in Operation: Aaron."

"But no Overlord agents are going to be involved. We're going local I guess. Mercenaries?"

"No, not someone that can be paid off."

He looked around the market until his eyes settled on a bar. "I know a man who works in that bar."

Leyla looked at the bar and immediately knew what her husband was talking about. "Him."

"The leader of the Sunni Islam Specialists."

"SIS, or 'sissies'."

The two walked into the bar and Burak put out his cigarette.

It was Friday so the bar was crowded with men, mostly in business suits, enjoying their lunch breaks from work and drinking their breaths away to the smell of liquor. Leyla looked around the bar and spotted her target.

She could only get a small glimpse from here but the bartender she focused on was tall in height, had a crop of curly brown hair and a beard to accommodate, his nose in the shape of a hawk.

She walked up to the bar and stopped in front of the bartender as he was cleaning the counter.

The bartender looked up at Leyla and smiled.

"Hello," Leyla said in Turkish. "My name is Leyla. No need to introduce yourself, we know who you are, Tariq."

"We?" Tariq asked with a chuckle. "You here with someone I don't know about, pretty?"

He grabbed her wrist and was about to kiss it when a hand slapped his hand away.

Tariq looked at his would-be attacker.

Burak chuckled. "Polite of you but don't kiss my wife's hand."

"Burak will tear you apart," Leyla warned, "Tariq." She tilted her head when she saw that the bartender had gray sunken eyes.

He poured two bottles of beer for the couple.

"What do you want?" Tariq demanded.

"Information," Leyla answered without missing a beat.

"Don't have any."

"No, butwedo foryou."

"It better be worth my time."

"Noah's Ark," Burak hissed.

Tariq nearly dropped the beer bottle he was holding but caught it in his other hand. "What about it?"

"Not in this bar; too public. Come meet us in the alleyway and we'll give you all the information you want."

Burak and Leyla paid for the beers before walking out. Tariq told his boss he was going on his lunch break before following the two outside and into the alleyway.

Burak and Leyla leaned against the wall with Burak smoking another cigarette and Leyla taking out a knife and twirling it in her hands.

"What is this about Noah's Ark?" Tariq demand, impatience rising above sea levels in his voice.

"You're part of a family that is determined to protect the biblical artifacts," Leyla pointed out. "Well, not so much a family as it is a group of well-intentioned fanatics." She spun the knife counterclockwise in her hand, maintaining eye contact with Tariq.

"That's only a partial truth," Tariq corrected.

"Is it? I hear that the Sunni Islam Specialists look for biblical artifacts and destroy them as if biblical archeology is your enemy."

"That is still only a partial truth. Thetruth-truth is that we ensure that God carries out his plans."

"How vague and cryptic. So, if I went out on a limb to look for Aaron's Rod then what would you say?"

"That I would kill you so you could never find Aaron's Rod."

"Why? Why kill?"

"Because people like you who wish to undo all of God's work do not deserve to live. Looking for tools used by God or his disciples and prophets is a blasphemy unlike any other and all of humanity will pay for disrespecting God."

Burak took a long drag and blew the smoke in Tariq's face, making him cough.

"What a delusional extremist," Burak mumbled.

Tariq growled at Burak before remembering something. "Noah's Ark, you said something about Noah's Ark. Who are you people, what do you want with me?"

Burak took another drag before blowing the smoke away from Leyla's face.

"Overlord," he hissed, tasting every syllable on his tongue like chocolate. "We are agents of Overlord, we are the leaders of the religious sect operating in Istanbul. We have agents numbering in the triple digits under our command."

"Stop stalling with this melodrama!" Tariq snapped.

Hook, line, andsinker, Burak thought.If we stall him with theatrics then he'll get irritated and less likely to use rationale. Right where we got him.

Leyla looked at her husband, who silently nodded, before looking back at Tariq.

"We have reason to believe that Noah's Ark is real," Leyla said finally. "The boat that Noah built to save a male and female animal of every species is here in Turkey."

Tariq clenched his fists. "What makes you say this?"

"Because Cassie Drake, famous explorer, is on her way to Istanbul to look for the ark."

Tariq's eyes went wide. "What?"

"Overlord has had tangles in the past with Drake over various mythical objects. Ultima Thule, Atlantis, the Cold Iron, Cleopatra's Tomb, the Philosopher's Stone, and most recently, Scholomance. We've lost hundreds of good men on the Cleopatra and Scholomance adventures specifically, all because of Cassie Drake."

"What are Drake's intentions for looking for the ark?"

"Archaeology," Burak answered. "To show the world that the tool God made Noah built is a genuine thing. That there is more to this world than meets the eye."

"No," Tariq growled. "It is not time for Noah's Ark to be revealed, Noah's Ark can only be revealed on Judgement Day. If mankind finds these tools of God before Judgement Day then Judgement Day will fall upon us sooner rather than later. Iwillnot allow this."

Leyla sighed with a smile. "That's what I thought."

Tariq realized something. "Wait a second, why can'tyoujust kill Drake yourself? Why do you needmeto do your dirty work?"

"Currently, she is in another country and I have no authority over foreign agents. Even so, our Leader told us that Drake is an Omega Target, which translates to as an invaluable asset under the right circ*mstances in Overlord terminology. The Leader wants to keep Drake alive at all costs for her usefulness in the not-so-distant future but we beg to differ. We can't afford to squander our resources."

"I thought Overlord was a global terrorist group."

"Propaganda," Burak sneered, "there issomuch more to Overlord than just violence and terrorism and bloodshed. We are acting on behalf of the world to make it better andfairand we can't do that if Drake comes to Turkey to look for Noah's Ark. That's why my wife and I, commanders of the religious sect station in Turkey, are making a formal request for you to do all you can to contribute and stop Drake from searching for Noah's Ark."

"Would you like her alive or dead?" Tariq asked, a thought crossing his mind.

What difference does it make, I'm going to kill her anyway.

"Killing her is going to be difficult, especially with the high kill count she's got under her belt, so I would go with scaring her into leaving Turkey."

Leyla laughed in her head.These sissies could actually be a bigger threat if they were smarter and more rational in their modus operandi but once you dig under someone's nails, you practically know what makes them tick.

"Don't worry," Tariq said with unprecedented confidence. "I'll scare her to death." Tariq put his hands together in a praying gesture. "Barış ya da savaş."

Tariq turned on his heels and walked back to the bar.

Burak inhaled a deep breath and sighed heavily. "Barış ya da savaş," he repeated. "The battle cry for the sissies." He flicked the cigarette out of his mouth and stomped on it.

"Did you have to mention Aaron's Rod, Leyla?"

Leya turned to her husband. "I didn't want him to catch wind of what Overlord was after and Noah's Ark is the most mundane biblical object you could find."

"Not necessarily; it could prove to be invaluable but there is no benefit for Overlord to have a giant wooden boat in their possession when we can buy boats and battleships whenever we want."

"You think Tariq is going to kill Drake?"

"We told him not to kill her but he's going to scare her to death. That's a paradox and if we placed our bets, I would say that Tariq is going to try and kill Drake."

"Shouldn't we kill them or do you believe in the legends our men tell us?"

"If the Leader believes that Drake can be an Omega Target, an invaluable asset, then I have faith in 'em."

Leyla looked at the stomped cigarette. "You had your limit for the day."

Burak smiled. "Good."

The Next Day

Kahului Airport, Hawaii

She packed light, taking only two suitcases with her and a box from a seafood place with fried frog legs and sat on a chair in the waiting area. She thought back on how exhausting it was getting her suitcases through customs because one of her suitcases had her grappling hook and piton on top of a set of clothes while the other one had the treasure box inside. She was prepared to explain to security that she was an arachnologist and this was her excavation equipment but the fact that they recognized her as the legendary Cassie Drake made getting the suitcases through the checking area easier.

After a few cups of coffee and a few bites of bagels, she felt better about getting ready to travel. It was the weekend and she had gotten permission from her school to go on this archaeological trip to use as extra credit before graduating. She had yet to talk to Derek ever since her conversation with Carla and every time she approached him or the subject, it was awkward and embarrassing for her.

After she finished her coffee and bagels, she opened up her box of frog legs and began wolfing them down one after the other. As she was eating half a frog leg, she heard that voice going off in her head again.

Find Noah's Ark... Find Noah's-

Yeah, yeah, I know, I'll find Noah's Ark.

She swallowed the frog leg in her mouth before sighing heavily.

I told Derek that I'm going to Istanbul to meet with The Priest and Bethany to see if this is actually a piece taken from Noah's Ark. In actuality, I'll just go there and look for Noah's Ark myself. Simple and harmless and I have no idea what people would kill me for if I'm looking for Noah's Ark.

She remembered what her mother told her about Noah's Ark is a religion to some and mythology to others and how even the most mundane of objects can drive a person insane.

I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry, Dad. I'm sorry, Derek. But I have to find Noah's Ark.

Just as she picked up the last frog leg, her eyes rolled to the back of her skull and she blacked out.

She picked up where she left off from the last dream, being pulled up by Derek except this time, she was pulling herself up on Noah's Ark by the rails before a piece broke off and she fell into the open Mediterranean Sea. Gravity her down under, the current sweeping her away. She was vaguely aware of the wood in both of her hands and was concerned about the fact that her lungs were filling with water.

She kicked and swam to the surface, going with the current instead of against it, and thrust one hand to the surface and blindly reached for anything.

She was stranded in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea during a raging storm with no liferaft or lifejacket but she'll be damned if she was going to lose her life. Her hand connected with something solid and it made her realize that she still had the second wood piece that disconnected when she fell off of Noah's Ark in her hand. She drops that piece and clutches her hand hard around this solid object.

She pulls herself up with one hand and climbs onto this rocky object in the shape of a raft and laid her stomach flat against it, catching her breath and pulling her feet up to sit in a fetal position.

She wrapped her hand around her knees and clutched them tightly. The waves of the ocean broke against the rocky raft and sprayed her from above but that was the least of her problem.

"So cold," she shivered, "I'm so c-cold."

"I can warm you up."

She shoots her eyes open and looks above her to see Derek standing there, completely dry from the rain and holding something in his hand.

"I think you dropped this."

It was the second piece that broke off from Noah's Ark.

Cassie remembered how she let that piece go to get a good grip on the rocky raft and that she still had the original piece in the palm of her right hand.

"You might need the second piece," Derek whispered.

He kneeled and handed her the wood.

"Derek," Cassie whimpered as she sat up on her knees, "what are you-"

Derek presses a finger to her lips, shushing her. He leaned forward.

Cassie leaned forward, intending to finish what she started in the first dream to kiss him when-

Cassie's eyes shot open with a deep gasp.

"Oh my god," she panted when she realized she was back in the airport, sitting on a chair in the waiting area.

She flustered when she realized that she was sweating but mellowed herself when she realized that everyone was boarding the flight and not even paying attention to her but still, who knows what noises she could've made?

She finishes the last of her frog leg and boards the plane.

Chapter 6: Wasted Ambush

Chapter Text

Gökçeada

Sadly,this isn't a direct flight to Istanbul,Cassie thought.I have to switch flights in several countries before I get to Istanbul but it'll all be worth it.

In the early stages of the flight, Cassie snuggled into her seat and drifted off to sleep, waking up only when she landed in Athens, Greece. While waiting for the next flight, she bought a pocket-sized journal from one of the gift shops and wrote in it during the next plane ride.

She wrote everything she knew about Noah's Ark in the journal along with a narrative-like description of the dreams she's been having, jotting down every detail she could remember, no matter how trivial it may seem.

She departed the plane on an island known as Gökçeada, which was also known for being the largest island of Turkey so in a way, she was already in the country but her destination was Istanbul.

Her flight was not due to depart for four hours so she was walking around the town to explore after she finished writing in her journal and stowed her suitcase away in a locker at the airport but taking her grappling hook and piton with her.

She entered a small town with a large group of people with predominantly dark hair and olive skin and she told them to excuse her in their native language. When she came across a girl selling apples, she bought one with Turkish lira that she brought with her from a recent adventure in Turkey. She was about to take a bite into it until she noticed a homeless man sitting in the corner of a food store, wearing clothes that clearly had not been washed in a long time.

Taking a knee by his side, she handed him the apple.

"You don't have to do that," the man spoke in accented English.

"I want to," Cassie said, "airplane food is underrated."

The homeless man took the apple. "Thank you, miss."

"Anything to help those in need. If you have caramel with you, you can make a candy apple."

"I hate candy apples."

Cassie laughed. "Whatever floats yourboat."She patted him on the shoulder before leaving.

The homeless man marveled over the apple before taking a bite, the flavor tasting like heaven that woke his tastebuds.

With three hours to spare, Cassie decided to wet her whistle and order food from a stand. She waited behind seven people standing in line to get various cuisines and she could feel her back arching before she made it to the stand.

I don't want to waste my appetite because airplane food is delicious.

"I'll take a pomegranate, please."

Cassie paid the seller before she heard her mutter something in Turkish.

Cassie translated the sentence into English: 'Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines, or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!'

Haha, I have water with me.Cassie stepped out of line and took a sip of water from her canteen before cutting into the pomegranate and taking a handful of seeds.

"I wish Derek was here," she mumbled.

"Who's Derek?"

Cassie snapped to her left and was face-to-face with a man with neatly combed dark brown hair, olive skin, facial hair from ear to ear, and a nose that looked like it had been punched.

Cassie replayed this stranger's sentence in her head - an easy task as he spoke it in English - and realized she had been talking aloud with seeds crunching in her mouth. "My friend," she said before swallowing the seeds with a hint of scarlet red on her cheeks

"Ah," the stranger said, "I have friends too." He looked over his shoulder and pointed to a group of eleven men standing behind a grille cooking lamb and waved at them. They returned the gesture.

"Well, it'd be sad and depressing if you didn't have friends," Cassie said, "unless you had a volleyball named Wilson; I always cried when Wilson was castaway."

The stranger shook his head. "I do not understand the reference. My name is Yusuf."

"Nice to meet you, Yusuf, my name is-"

"Cassie Drake."

Cassie felt chills run down her spine and felt her shoulders lock up. "How do you-"

"You're famous," Yusuf answered, "all over the world it appears. I would say you take after your mother and father in treasure hunting but that would be a big fat lie and I despise lies."

Cassie shrugged. "Eh, we're all liars. The only thing worst than a liar is someone who lies about being a liar."

"I thought it was telling the truth about being a liar."

Cassie laughed. "No, because if I told the truth about me being a liar then I wouldn't be a liar."

"Then would you be lying about telling the truth about you being a liar?"

Cassie slapped the man's shoulder. "It's a paradox, my man. Paradox."

Yusuf nodded slowly. "Paradox."

He took a pocket-sized notepad and pencil out of his pocket and wrote 'Par-a-dox' in it, putting a hyphen between syllables.

"Planning on taking a trip out of here?" she asked before taking another handful of seeds

Yusuf nodded. "Yes, because I was about to take a trip to meet you in person."

Cassie nearly choked on the seeds but quickly swallowed them down and stared at Yusuf. "Me?" she mumbled.

"Yes, your work has intrigued me, Cassie Drake, and I hoped to talk to you about your life treasure hunting."

"Ask me anything," Cassie insisted, "I'm an open book, like a comic book, a cookbook, a notebook, but not a checkbook."

Yusuf chuckled before purposely silencing himself. He reached into his other back pocket and pulled out a card with his photo on it and a logo of a W at the bottom.

"I'm an overseas reporter for Wyld TM; I do a lot of traveling. Since you're here, can you answer a few questions of mine while I still have the chance?"

Cassie took another handful of seeds before nodding.

Yusuf took out his notepad and flipped to a blank page.

"How old are you, Cassie Drake?"

Cassie chuckled and put a hand to her heart. "I want to say twenty-four but I'm nineteen at heart."

He wrote twenty-four.

"Are you single?"

"Are you sure you're not trying to set up an online dating profile for me?"

"Yes or no?"

"Well, I'm not a single-celled organism so if anything, I am notsingle."

Dodging the question,Yusuf observed,she must have a frustrating love life.

He wrote 'single'.

"Why are you in Gökçeada?"

Cassie shook her head before saying, "Can't a girl visit an island for no reason at all?"

He put down treasure hunting.

"What lost city are you looking for now?"

Cassie flinched. "What makes you think I'm looking for a lostcity?"

"You're Cassie Drake," he said dully, "famous treasure hunter and destroyer of lost cities and ancient relics."

"Uh..." Cassie raised her hands defensively before realizing she had a pomegranate cut in half in her left hand so she hid it behind her back. "Not all of them are entirely my fault."

Yusuf eyed her suspiciously. "Is that so, Cassie Drake?"

He flipped several pages ahead with information already written down. "So, in 2031, the rumor about you searching for the lost city of Hawaiki on Easter Island isn't true?"

"Well-"

"They're rumors and speculations, no actual details or anything but I find it hard to believe that an entire class of college students striving to be archeologists went through mass hysteria and hallucinated their classmate, Cassie Drake, daughter of Nathan Drake, found a lost city on a school trip to Easter Island and destroy it."

"I didn't destroy it," Cassie defended.

He flipped to a page titled 'Atlantis'.

"What about Atlantis? If I recall, didn't you travel to the Bermuda Triangle and destroy the lost city?"

Cassie knew she couldn't deny that one and simply said nothing.

Yusuf smiled.

He must be the 'no news is good news' kind of guy,she thought.

"You destroyed a piece of our past," Yusuf growled. "Atlantis was meant to be discovered, studied."

"Have you ever considered that maybe lost cities are hidden for a reason?"

"Have you considered all the pieces of history you have destroyed?"

"I thought these were all rumors and speculations. I am aware that I am famous for finding these lost cities but the rumors about me destroying them-"

"How come whenever you find a lost city and come out of it, it is gone when others try to retrace your steps to find it? Even rumors and speculations, like myths, have a kernel of truth to them. Iknowwhat you did in France. Iknowyou destroyed the lost city of Ys."

"Technically, mercenaries and a legendary serpent made of gold destroyed the city."

"But nevertheless, the city was destroyed because ofyou."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better..." she smiled awkwardly, "a city with the name of 'Ys' was bound to be destroyed anyway."

Yusuf seethed with his teeth grinding.

"We're not going to know the origins of where we come from because you always destroy or make it so we can never discover history for ourselves. If the supernatural is a real phenomenon then we must investigate."

"And risking unleashing ancient viruses to the world, a resin that can make you near-invincible, or a genie in a bottle that makes you hallucinate?"

"Yes because those are all linked to who we are as humans. The gorier, the better."

Cassie cringed. "Why?"

"Humans are such evil creatures and we blind ourselves to the fact. We do evil things on a regular occurrence but we try to justify it and when we try to bring those evil things to the light, society defends children, makes them innocent by locking said evil in a closet."

"You believe all humans are inherently evil?"

"Yes, and history proves it."

Cassie smirked. "Well, history can be wrong, Mr. Pessy-Mestic. There's also a difference between confronting evil and unleashing evil upon this world. I think we can all agree that this world would be better off without most of the supernatural curses around this world."

Yusuf decided he had enough and pocketed his notepad. "What are you going to destroy this time? What mythical object are you going to search for and destroy?"

"I'm not going to destroy anything," she promised, "I'm on a strictly 'search-for-it-and-do-nothing-else' kind of deal."

He narrowed his eyes. "I hope you die on this adventure."

Instead of being shocked and offended, Cassie saw the humor. "Ishould'vedied a bajillion times but I'm immortal. 'Sides, if I'm dead, who is going to look for that 'evil in history' you dream of finding?"

"There are people who can surpass you," he said, more to himself than her, "evil can be replaced - even topped - as much as good can be." He looks over his shoulders to his friends before casting Cassie one last look. "At least your mother and father had the decency to share the history they found with the world."

Cassie clenched her fists and felt a sticky substance seep through her fingertips. "Stop comparing me to my parents!"

"Hoşçakal, Cassie Drake."

Yusuf rotated on his heels and reconnected with his eleven friends.

Cassie glared at the back of the ambush reporter's head, suddenly becoming aware of the sticky liquid drenching the back of her palm. She looks down and sees the crushed seeds of the pomegranate staining her hand her anger instantly vanishes.

"Oops."

The girl who was selling the pomegranates approached Cassie.

"I see that your hand is stained," she said in a slow accented English voice, "which is why I keep hot water and lemon juice on my stand."

"Thanks."

"I prefer money that hasn't been stained so I insist you pay after you're done cleaning or I will make your life a living hell."

Cassie stared at the seller with a surprised look on her face.

"That was quite the 180."

Two hours remained until Cassie's flight took off and she was still pacing around the small town, bored as heck. She thought that she would sit on a bench near a water fountain, read a bible or something but she was bored easily and she didn't feel like reading. In situations like this, she would normally just chitchat with Derek about mundane topics like what painting he was going to devote himself to once college hours were over, how his mother and father were doing, or why he broke up with Angie some years ago.

Huh, Angie was Derek's old girlfriend. If I remember correctly, she got pregnant and has a daughter named Tiffany. No need to go on the show Maury because we already know Derek's not the father. Derek as a father, that would be interesting. But who would his baby mama be?

Deciding on how to pass the time, she took out her pocket-sized notebook and looked over the descriptions of the dreams she'd been having. She only had two dreams so far but they seemed to build off one another aside from Derek's almost kissing her in the vision.

The first dream ended with me hanging off Noah's Ark with a piece of Noah's Ark in my hand. The second dream opened with me still hanging off the boat before plunging into the sea. The dream ended with Derek handing me the second piece of Noah's Ark.

She closed her journal.

If these visions aren't random and actually integral to the story, what do the two pieces of Noah's Ark mean? Does it mean that there are at least two pieces of wood from Noah's Ark or was Noah testing the quality of his ship by having me weave two pieces of wood wear and tear through the Mediterranean?

She pockets the book and leans back on the bench, putting her arms up and sighing. She looks up at the blue sky, counting clouds and trying to see what they looked like.

"Hey, that looks like a baby," she exclaimed, "and that looks like an ugly face. That one looks like a-"

She loses all words to speak when she realizes what that one specific looks like.

She took out her canteen, testing the temperature by putting it against her forehead before she poured some on her face, instinctively jolting from the icy water. Feeling refreshed, she looks up into the sky.

That cloud that was looking like Noah's Ark was nowhere to be seen in the sky.

She buries her face in her hands and sighs in frustration.

Is this how I'm going to be seeing the boat for the rest of my life until I find it? Yeah, I know I have to find Noah's Ark; stop reminding me!

She turned around and felt a jolting pain in her cheek and collapsed to the ground, seeing darkness.

Warehouse

A warehouse located near the docks was always a perfect hideout for crime lords but also a convenient place for when you want to get something off your chest.

In this case, it was literal.

Alec groaned in contempt as he peeled the Kevlar body armor off his chest and threw it to the ground, panting like a dog. "Wearing body armor is useless unless you're going into battle."

A man grabbed his shoulder from behind. "Take a deep breath, Alec."

Alec slaps the man's hand away. "Don't tell me what to do, Tyler. I've been living life as a civilian for too long; I need to get more than this body armor off my chest." He reaches behind his back to pull out a fully loaded Beretta 92F and co*cks it. "What say we go shooting?"

Tyler shook his head. "Let's not waste our bullets."

"Bullets were meant to be wasted on people meant to be wasted."

Tyler chuckled. "I'll second that but let's make sure we waste the bullets at the right time, otherwise, it would be a waste."

Alec nodded and put his handgun away once more before picking up his body armor and walking over to a plane that several men without shirts and covered in grease were working on.

It's nice to have the gang back together,Tyler thought as he gazed over the men working on the plane.Nice to have your combat bros with you. I just wish Erica was here so it'd be a full-on reunion.

Tyler's thoughts were interrupted when he heard pounding on the large door behind him. He jogs to the side and pushes the large door open until he's face to face with a familiar face.

"Derek Lowell," Tyler laughed, "what brings you here?!"

"Hey, Tyler," Derek said nervously.

These are my mother's old teammates from the Navy and it looks like they're still a tight-knit group.

"We have beers with us in case you want some-"

"No thank you," Derek interjected, "I'm not here for a reunion."

Tyler pouted. "That breaks my heart more so than a bullet does."

"I hate to cut to the chase but could you take me on a plane ride?"

Tyler looked Derek in the eyes like he was crazy. "You serious?"

"Yes," Derek nodded firmly, "I need to get to Turkey as soon as possible."

"Turkey? I thought that was the name of an animal," Tyler laughed. "Why don't you go to the supermarket and buy one?"

Derek's usual reaction of laughing was replaced with eye-rolling. "Tyler, this is an emergency and I can't get a flight to Turkey for at least a day."

"You got a date or something?"

"Will you take me on a plane ride to Turkey?"

Tyler stroked his facial hair, pretending to contemplate. "What makes you think you can just barge into our warehouse and expect us to drop everything-"

"You can switch on again."

Tyler's eyes widened. "What?"

"I fear that I might have some business in Turkey that might require gunfire and I know that you and your ragtag of PMCs love switching on whenever possible." Derek impatiently tapped his foot against the ground. "If you can get me a direct plane ride to Turkey then I promise you can switch on."

Tyler tilted his head curiously, yet suspiciously. "Do I have your word?"

Derek nodded with another eye roll. "With my line of work, it's so easy to attract gun-wielding bad guys so yeah, you have my word."

Chapter 7: A Lot of Hands

Chapter Text

Istanbul, Turkey

Leyla and Burak settled down in a hotel, enjoying their time off until they were interrupted by an Overlord soldier named Hasan.

"What is it?" Burak growled after opening the door for the young soldier.

The Overlord sergeant named Hasan stuttered and twitched like a nervous schoolboy before he handed the wife and husband a map of Ankara with small areas circled in red.

"Can't you see I'm trying to enjoy my day off?" Burak growled once again. "This better be important."

"Y-yes," Hasan said, his speech twitching like a spasming arm. "M-may I c-come in? Not dis-discuss in h-hall."

Burak let the young soldier in. "Cut to the chase and no BS."

"Y-yes."

He read over the report, going over the details the Overlord soldiers discovered during their excavations, speaking slowly and calmly so as to not twitch.

"A tomb that dates back to biblical times if our on-site archaeologists are correct," Hasan said.

"Same sh*t, different day," Burak muttered under his breath. "Anythingnew?"

"N-no."

"What of our soldiers on Mount Ararat?"

"W-what about t-them?"

"Tell them to report back to me ASAP because finding Aaron's Rod is of the essence." He remembered something. "Speaking of Mount Ararat, any reports on Drake and Lowell?"

The young soldier shook his head.

"According to Arda, our SIS inside man, they have not made contact."

"Remind him to keep a sharp eye on those sissies as well as Drake and Lowell."

The sergeant nodded. "Yes sir. I will get to it."

Burak turned to the desk in the front of the room and pulled out a drawer, taking out a heavy book with a cover made of silver and pages made of a type of paper that modern archaeologists couldn't figure out.

The book was unearthed by archaeologists digging for biblical artifacts in Ankara. Since Burak was the supreme commander of all Turkish Overlord soldiers, he was handed the book to keep. The book was nothing special after being polished of dust and earth remains, aside from being written in an ancient language that required translators to decipher and tell tales of Aaron's Rod being located somewhere with a specific symbol carved on the front.

The symbol was a circle with a cross in the center with three lines dragged across the center horizontally. Burak and Leyla tried looking up this symbol on the internet and checked with archaeologists obsessed with biblical archaeology but always turned up short. Whatever this symbol was, it was not recorded in any bible or history book.

"What is this symbol?" Burak asked what felt like the hundredth time and was getting sick of hearing anyone's voice ask the same question.

"Sergeant Hasan, give us a moment," Leyla suddenly ordered.

Burak perked up to look at his wife.

"Tell Arda to keep us updated as well as the boys on Mount Ararat," Burak reminded.

The sergeant nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door.

"What's up, honey?" Burak put the book away before looking at his wife, sitting on the bed with her legs crossed.

"Nothing, I just wanted to spend some time with my beloved husband." Leyla gave a mischievous smile.

Leyla stood up and walked up to her husband. She was five-foot-seven and he was five-foot-eleven so she had to stand taller to meet his lips. He leaned in and gave her a long, passionate kiss, wrapping his arms tightly around the small of her back and pulling her in gently. Her lips tasted like cherries and it drove him to drive the kiss deeper.

He pulled away and stared into her beautiful brown eyes.

"I can't wait for this to be done; my sister says our three-year-old son is missing us," Burak said with a hint of sadness in his voice. "She said that he has been building blocks and knocking them down."

"He's going to turn into a machine of destruction one day," Leyla laughed. "A bulldozer."

Burak laughed with her before lifting her chin. "If it were my way, we'd force Drake and Lowell to find us Aaron's Rod, kill them, and then we can live a free andfairlife with our son. God will be watching over us, therealgod."

"I'm curious as to how a single staff can make someone a god but if Aaron's Rod can create tsunamis in addition to the ten plagues of Egypt as the book said then we're practically god once we grab it."

"I know I told Tariq to scare Drake to not coming here but deep down, I'm hoping he kills her." He stops himself from saying more to correct himself. "I mean - I wish that she would kill him, work for us, then be disposed of once she's done."

Leyla nodded. "Yeah, Cassie deserves to die for everything she's done. All of Overlord's good soldiers who lost their lives because of her, she should be put down like a dog."

Burak hugged his wife tightly. "Let's forget about Drake for now. For now, let's just go to bed and enjoy the rest of our day off."

Leyla smiled. "I like that."

Gökçeada

The first sense to return to Cassie is hearing. She had to settle for hearing because she couldn't see and she couldn't feel her arms, legs, fingers, or ears.

Wait,Cassie remembered,I can't feel my ears anyway because ears don't have bones.

The ringing sound piercing her ears made her realize that she was awake and conscious and her eyes were closed.

If there's one she's learned as a seasoned treasure hunter, it's if you blackout unexpectedly from physical pain, pretend to still be asleep to catch your enemies off-guard. Worked a solid ninety percent of the time.

So she kept her eyes closed and let her limbs go limp, playing dead, and that's when she realized her arms were being suspended in the air at a ninety-degree angle and her knees were touching the ground. It didn't take a genius to guess she was on her knees and being held up by her arms by two pairs of hands, given she's feeling more than five digits on her left elbow.

Detective Sherlock Holmes here, someone knocked out Cassie Drake but the question is 'who'.

She peeled her eyes open a tiny fraction and saw the outline of a boot beneath her. Sheknewit wasn't her boot because she wears sneakers more often than not. She didn't recognize the boot brand nor who the owner was but she knew she heard the voice talking to the two individuals holding her up. They were speaking Turkish so she had to translate in her head.

"She still has not woken up," the one holding her from her left said, "why not just hit her to wake her up?"

"No," the voice in front of her, wearer of the boots, said. "Let's not risk further brain damage because we may need her intel in the future."

"Stop wasting our time. If she is who you say she is..."

"She is - I interviewed her."

Yusuf,Cassie realized, anger flaring up in her.No 'journalist of the year' award for you.

"Let's just kill her."

"No!" Yusuf shouted. "If what this journal says is true, then Noah's Ark is real. We must find Noah's Ark so it can be studied and learned."

"We can just use the details in that journal to look for the boat."

"Are you an archaeologist?"

No answer from the individual on her left.

"We have no idea what to look for or what kind of traps to expect. We use Cassie Drake here to locate Noah's Ark for us and when all is done, we kill her before she can destroy it."

"We're going to have a tough time getting through security on that mountain," the individual on her right spoke, "I've seen it; people don't like it when treasure hunters go snooping around Mount Ararat, looking for Noah's Ark before Judgement Day comes."

"I don't believe in Judgement Day," Yusuf said.

"You don't believe in Judgement Day but you believe in Noah's Ark?"

"I don't believe in God because there's no evidence. However, Cassie Drake going after Noah's Ark is proof enough that Noah's Ark is real."

"We're going to get into a lot of trouble with the law and the people of our country for doing this," a fourth voice spoke behind Yusuf.

"Cassie is a Karma Houdini; she destroys objects of past and history and doesn't face repercussions."

"Because there's no evidence," the same man said.

"Butsheknows the truth just as much asIknow the truth." He walked out of Cassie's view. "I'm going to see if there are plane tickets available for Istanbul because we're going to be looking for an ancient boat."

Son of a bitch,Cassie cursed in her head.

"Lock her up and keep watch. Once she wakes up, let me know."

"Got it."

Cassie felt herself lift off the ground and set on a tall man's shoulders. She nearly lost her balance and almost kicked her legs reflexively but pushed down the fear of falling and let her arms sway as she was carried off.

Okay, time to assess the situation.

She closed her eyes and used her senses to get a feel for the environment around her.

I was knocked out by Yusuf. Based on the conversation, they have my notebook with every detail recorded on Noah's Ark. My grappling hook and climbing piton are both missing. I believe the treasure box is still in the locker at the airport. There are four assailants but Yusuf said he had friends and I counted eleven so there are at least seven more.

She opened her eyes, confident that no one was looking, and saw the ground was dirt beneath her. She could only make out two sounds of footsteps but to make sure, she risked looking up, seeing the top of a hill and an orange sky behind it.

How many hours have passed?she panicked.Did I miss my flight?

NO, I MUST FIND NOAH'S ARK!

She started kicking and clawing at the man carrying her on his shoulders, lashing out and kicking him in a spot that every man dreaded was hit.

"Cup check!" she shouted as she fell on her side.

The second man lunged for her on the ground.

She kicked him in the groin and kicked him in the face when he doubled over. She rolled out the way and jumped to her feet, delivering an uppercut to the second man's jaw as she came up.

The first man who was kicked in the groin struck Cassie in the jaw and tried to go for the second strike but the young treasure hunter kicked him in the groin once more.

Cassie figured that punching the first man was unnecessary because he was falling to his knees, wailing like a wounded animal flopping down into the dirt to see set full attention on the first man.

The second man groaned and sat up, putting a hand on his aching crotch, distracting himself when Cassie punched him in his temple and slammed the back of his head into the dirt ground several times until he was unconscious.

"Amateurs," Cassie scoffed as she dusted herself off, "I've seen guys who put up a better fight than you. Stick to being nobodies rather than mindless followers of some delusional reporters who think he's right in wishing me dead."

She looked at the first man and stood over him, grabbing the back of his head.

"I know that Yusuf has my journal but as for my grappling hook and climbing piton, where are they?"

The man continued to wail so she shoved his face into the dirt to silence the sounds.

"Where's my equipment?!" she shouted and pulled his head out of the dirt.

"Our guys have it," he groaned, his face covered in dirt. "They thought they would make cool souvenirs from a dead treasure hunter so they kept them."

"How long was I unconscious? It was mid-afternoon when landed on this island and now the sun is setting; how long was I out?"

"What difference does it make?"

"Don't play dumb with me; I had a ticket to Istanbul."

The man bit his tongue before answering, "Four hours."

"Crap, my flight left two hours ago." She slams his head into the ground hard, knocking him unconscious. "Whatever the case may be, I have to get that journal back."

She looked around to gather her bearings and see where she's at.

She was on a hill leading up with a shack to her left, presuming that was where her jail cell was meant to be. She followed the footprints left by the two lowlife amateurs up the hill, hoping to get back to civilization soon.

She was feigning unconscious for about ten minutes when carried on that man's back and was counting Mississippis to remember the route but since there were footprints left behind, the Mississippis she counted didn't matter anymore.

She'd been following the footprint trails for about ten minutes before the footprints started to fade from the wind blowing dirt over them. It didn't matter anymore because she reached the top of the hill and saw the small town she had been exploring in the distance, roughly two miles away with the sunset lower on the horizon than it had been hours ago.

"I can't go there just yet," she told herself, "I have to find my journal and then get out of here." She winced as she realized something in hindsight. "I should've asked for where Yusuf was, what a rookie mistake on my end."

She backpedaled down the hill and followed the path to where she knocked out the amateurs. She was halfway down the hill when she had an epiphany.

"Should I go back or should I find a way to get Yusuf to find me?" she asked herself. "On one hand, I can sneak up on Yusuf and take the notebook for myself. On the other hand, if I let Yusuf find me then I could be caught off-guard and killed. On the otherotherhand, I could call the police but if I do that, they'll hold me for questioning and I won't get to Mount Ararat as quickly as I could." She shook her head and sighed disappointingly.

"That's a lot of hands."

Chapter 8: Still Got It

Chapter Text

At the very last second, Cassie decided to go back to where she knocked out the amateurs and waited. She remembered Yusuf saying, 'Lock her up and keep watch. Once she wakes up, let me know.'

Yusuf will be suspicious if those amateurs don't call him back and he'll send somebody to check out the situation. That's when I'll get the upper hand on them.

As she came upon the unconscious bodies, she heard the sound of a jingle going off on one of their bodies. Deducing that it's a cell phone, she frisks their unconscious bodies before pulling out a flip phone on the thug that was carrying her.

"A flip phone?" Cassie laughed. "I knew these guys were old-fashioned for digging around for ancient artifacts but I didn't know they were digging forthesekinds of relics."

She flips open the phone and answers it.

"What's up?" she spoke in a deep voice.

"Is she incapacitated?"

Cassie replayed the voice in her head and realized that the voice didn't belong to Yusuf but the fourth person who was talking over her.

"She is."

"Good. I'll send Fuat and Sabri over."

"Why won't Yusuf be here?"

The voice groaned. "He's got an interview with the public so he'll be indisposed at the moment. Call me as soon as she cracks."

"Got it."

The man hung up and Cassie closed the phone.

"Yusuf is going to appear in public? If that's the case, then that means he won't be able to ambush me so I have his lackeys to deal with. That also means getting my journal back from him will be impossible."

She quickly searched for flights bound for Turkey, turning up fruitless with the next flight taking off to Turkey the next day.

"Crap," she muttered, "so getting the journal and my climbing gear back is my main priority. I should tie these guys up and call the police on them."

Ten Minutes Later

Fuat and Sabri walked up to the shack, each one playing with the climbing gear they took from Cassie. Fuat had the grappling hook looped around his belt loop and swung the hook in a circle while Sabri spun the piton in his hand like a bottle.

Before opening the door, Sabri cracked his knuckles and said, "Let's get started, ladies and gentlemen."

He pushed open the door to see the first two amateurs unconscious on the shack floor.

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed.

"SURPRISE!"

Cassie swung down from the wall above the door jamb, kicked both thugs in the chest, and sent them to the ground.

Sabri jumped to his feet and swung the piton like a knife. Cassie caught his hand and socked him in the jaw twice before pushing him back.

Faut tackled Cassie's waist and dragged her to the ground but she jutted her hips up, knocked him off balance, and landed on top of him, striking him in the nose before removing herself.

Sabri reaches behind his back to pull out a pistol.

Cassie knew what he was reaching for and picked up a handful of dirt and threw it in his face before he could aim.

The dirt clung to his face and eyes and made him fire reflexively in front of him.

Cassie parried out of the pistol's path and grabbed the barrel, twisting the gun in the opposite direction of her until she heard the bones in Sabri's fingers break.

The bullet he fired off reflexively didn't miss because as Fuat was about to stab the grappling hook into Cassie's shoulder blade, the bullet hit him in the sternum and he fell flat on his back.

Sabri reached blindly for the climbing piton on the ground and swung it at Cassie's leg.

Cassie was seasoned enough to know not to leave her opponent's free arm unattended so she lifted up her leg and kicked into the elbow of the arm he was holding the piton. Holding the piton-wielding arm back, she jumped off her leg as high as could and connected said leg's foot into the thug's jaw.

Sabri flew back like a fallen mannequin and lost his grip on the gun, despite his fingers already being broken, and the piton being flung out of his reach.

Cassie falls on her ass and quickly aims her gun at the thug.

"Drop it," she gestured to her climbing piton. "Now!"

Sabri dropped the climbing piton and kicked it over to her so he would clutch his broken index and middle finger with a crying red face of pain.

Cassie retrieves the piton and tucks it away. "Thank you," she said dryly. "Where are the rest of your friends?"

Sabri kept his mouth shut. "I ain't scared of you!" he cried, still in pain over his broken fingers.

"You should be scared of me," she hissed, "I've dealt with bad guys before, and let me tell you this: You guys are F-lister opponents compared to what I've faced. Such amateurs."

Sabri winced and growled. "You daughter of a bitch."

"Nah, my mother is a female human, not a female dog."

She rotates the gun in her hand so she's holding it by the barrel and knocks him on the head with it, disabling him.

"Still got it," she praised with laughter.

She turned around to retrieve her grappling hook and looped it around her belt loop before checking to see how many bullets she had in her magazine.

Seven bullets for eight people. I can only hope there's no more than eight.

She holsters her gun.

Okay, game plan: Find Yusuf and steal my notebook back and get the hell out of dodge. Go back to the airport, retrieve the treasure box, and wait it out until tomorrow morning for my plane ride. Simple.

She removes the flip phone from her pocket and searches up real-time public appearances of Yusuf. She didn't catch his surname but she caught the name of the company that he worked for and if she could access that company's website...

"This guy should really update to a modern-day phone," Cassie laughed. "At least they're password-protected. Such an ancient dinosaur for having a flip phone but thanks a lot."

As she was walking in the direction up the hill, she went on the Wyld TM website and found an article that one Yusuf Bilginer was scheduled to do a regularly hosted talk on the radio with a fellow reporter on current events happening around the world.

Yusuf did say he traveled a lot and Wyld TM works with news from around the world.

She scrolled down the article.

Yusuf is due to attend the radio at seven p.m., meaning I have until then to get my journal back. If I time it correctly-

She slipped and fell forward on the hill she was climbing. "Ow," she deadpanned.

"As I was saying," she said aloud this time, "I swipe my journal back from him minutes or seconds before his talk show happens and he won't be able to chase me down and I can hide and wait for my plane ride out of here tomorrow."

She climbs up the hill again. She climbs up a rock, which slips underneath her foot, and she tumbles onto her back as-

BANG!

A bullet lodged into the dirt ground that she was climbing and based on the trajectory, the bullet would've hit her in the back of the head.

Cassie took out her gun and aimed it above her head, awkwardly because she was lying on her back with her head tilted all the way back to the world upside-down.

But she had been in this position before so it was easy to aim her gun up (or down) and fire a single bullet into the shooter's head from where she lay.

The shooter took the shot to the forehead and tumbled to the ground.

Cassie rolled over and ran to retrieve the gun and find out who shot at her.

As she ran, she slipped in another batch of dirt and landed on her ass as another bullet went off and lodged in the ground behind her. Dumb luck had saved her life again.

She looked up and saw the second man she kicked in the groin aiming a pistol at her, the man with the broken fingers standing behind him, Sabri, using him as a shield.

Cassie rolls to the side, picking up the gun of the man she killed, shocked to discover that it was the man who was carrying her over his shoulders, and rolled down a steep hill and downward.

She tumbled to the bottom and stopped herself by planting both feet in front of her and leaping out to jump the rest of the way down, landing on flat ground. She spins around, doing a one-eighty, and sees the second man aiming at her from the top of the hill.

With two guns in her hands, she hides one and fires off the other one.

The second man fires his gun off reflexively before falling back and out of sight.

Sabri picked up the second man's gun with his left hand - his weak and unbroken hand - and took cover on the ground, hiding from Cassie's line of sight before scooting over to the edge and firing blindly at the treasure hunter.

Cassie jumped reflexively in the air when the bullets hit the ground near her feet but she held her ground and aimed at Sabri's position and pulled the hammer back before firing.

Three bullets hit the ground in front of Sabri's face and blew dust in his face. He coughs the dirt out and backs away until he hears clicking coming from below.

I know that sound,he thought,you're dead you bitch.

He jumps to his knees and aims down, eyes going wide when he sees a second gun aiming for him.

Cassie stuck her tongue out as she aimed and hit him in his hand, causing him to drop the gun and slide down the hill.

Sabri knew that he was still sitting in her line of fire but the pain he was experiencing made him not care.

"Some luck you got there," Cassie shouted, "first your fingers are broken on one hand then you get shot on the other hand. Rotten luck."

Sabri cried and held his bleeding hand with his broken fingers, the pain aggravating in both hands and making him cry like a child after getting a shot.

The gun slid down the hill and stopped at her foot, prompting her to pick it up and tuck it away behind her shirt.

"You should get your hands bandaged up," she shouted, "and put pressure on your wound."

"Bitch," Sabri whispered so quietly under his breath, he knew she wouldn't hear him.

Since Sabri was disarmed of both hands and guns, he was no longer a threat and she was not going to kill a defenseless person. She tried climbing up the hill before finding out that it was too steep for her to climb and there were no handholds. She spun on her heels and ran off, intending to take an alternate route to the small town.

Son of a bitch,she mentally cursed as she ran.I left those guys unconscious and they managed to sneak up on me and almost kill me. ALMOST. They must've had guns in the shack, secret entrance cause I searched the place and turned up squat.

She runs across the mountaintop until she finds another hill that is too steep for her to climb and ends up in a dead-end with a rock wall in front of her. Luckily for her, there were handholds and if there's one thing she learned being a Drake, handholds were her friends.

She tossed the empty pistol away before making sure her newly acquired pistols had the safety on before she started climbing the wall, grabbing hold of the handholds, pulling herself up with all her feet, and shoving the soles of her sneakers into the wall.

Hello handholds, it's your best friend, Cassie Drake.

She climbs up the wall, coming to a point where there are handholds but out of reach. Luckily for her, she had her climbing piton back in her possession and she used that to stab into a crack in the wall to reach the handholds.

She shimmies across the wall and reaches up into the air to reach a handhold. Like before, it was out of reach but all it took was a simple jump and she would make it. She jumps up the wall using her glued feet and grabs the handhold with one hand and grabs it with the other.

"Just another day climbing."

She continues to climb up the handholds before one of them breaks beneath her. She yelps in surprise before grabbing onto a handhold she climbed before and pulled herself back up.

"Breaking things is something that comes with the territory of being a Drake."

She felt a handhold shake beneath her grip and moved to the next handhold before it fell apart.

She reached the top of the wall and pulled herself up, sighing heavily and slapping the grounds like a baby playing drums.

"Oh sweet flat ground, I promise to never take you for granted ever again." She picks herself up and begins moving in the direction of the city.

"If Yusuf is scheduled to appear on the radio, he'll most likely be at the radio station in the city."

A thought crosses her mind.

"But what if the station's in Istanbul or Ankara?" This thought makes her come to a complete stop before she begins jogging again. She takes out the flip phone and searches up for the radio station that Yusuf was scheduled to appear at.

She laughed in relief.

"So he came to Gökçeada to attend the radio show, I got lucky-"

She loses her footing and falls down a hill.

"NOT LUCKY!"

She tumbles down the hill, rolling on her back down, scooting back until she realizes it is fruitless.

She could see where the bottom of this hill led - the edge of a cliff.

"I don't plan on dying today," she shouted at the cliff like it was a living person, "or any day!"

She claws her fingers into the dirt, becoming more and more panicked as she gets closer and closer to the edge.

She looks up and sees a branch dangling from a rocky wall and her experienced mind quickly hatches a plan.

She grabs her grappling hook and throws it into the branch, hooking around it just as she goes over the cliff.

"HAHAHA!" she laughed. "YOU ARE AW-" the branch buckled under her weight. "AW CRAP!"

She swung towards the wall the branch came from and barely caught herself in a handhold as the branch disconnected and fell over the cliff.

She managed to untangle the grappling hook before it fell with the branch. "I guess I spoke too soon when I said 'aw crap'," she chuckled to herself.

She felt the handhold crack under her fingers.

"WHY DO I ALWAYS SPEAK TOO SOON?!"

She jumps up the next handhold, which begins breaking under her weight. As soon as her fingers left the handhold, it disconnected from the wall and the second handhold began cracking under her weight.

She wasted no time and climbed as many handholds as possible before the wall started to disconnect.

"Oh crap!"

She reached out for a handhold, almost within reach, and jumped for it just as the wall disconnected and fell down the canyon. Her heart raced at the thought of the handhold disconnect like the others but to her Drake luck, it held under her weight.

"Haha, like Ancestor Drake, like Descendant Drake."

She pushes herself up to grab more handholds and pauses when she sees another branch at the top of the wall above her.

She makes sure to have a firm grip on her right hand before taking the grappling hook out with her left hand. She throws the hook up and tangles it around the branch. She tests the weight of the branch and nearly feels herself lose balance. The branch shook like a teeter-totter being pulled and dirt and rocks began falling from where the tree was.

"Well, I didn't pack my parachute so I should avoid the tree unless I want to dofreefreefalling."

She untangles the hook and decides to climb the rest of the way up.

She reaches for the top, climbs up next to the tree, pulls her chest up, and sets it on flat ground, sighing heavily.

"Back on solid ground," she laughed before looking up, "take that rock-"

A boot connects to her jaw and she tumbles back and falls, catching herself on the edge and dangling.

Sabri stood among her, blood dripping from his hand, which had now been bandaged up with a cloth of some sort, a sneer on his face.

"Hey there," she smiled nervously at him, "people like you are always looking down on me." She gestured with her jaw at herself dangling over the edge. "But this is the first time someone looked down on me because I'm holding onto the edge of a cliff." She pulls herself up. "I'm climbing up." She reaches for her grappling hook.

Sabri lifted his foot up to stomp on Cassie's fingers.

With Cassie's feet still glued to the wall, she pushed off of them and threw the end of the grappling hook out before falling over the edge.

The grappling hook surfed across the dirt ground before losing into the back of Sabri's planted foot sank into his calf and yanked him to his back and over the edge. He screamed in terror and reached for the branch, landing chest-first on the branch before it gave away and he fell down the cliff.

Cassie grabbed the handhold she jumped to after the wall broke off earlier and began climbing up after securing the untangled grappling hook around her belt loop.

She reached the top and climbed onto the flat ground once more, folding over and resting her hands on her knees.

"Still got it," she laughed.

Chapter 9: Who Needs Enemies

Chapter Text

Cassie made it to the small town, sighing and laughing hysterically as she realized she was safe. Before she made it to the town, she realized she could not be seen with guns on her and decided to make a ditch in the dirt and bury the two guns in them. She figured that she could make it with her grappling hook and climbing piton, considering that she walked around with her grappling hook and piton earlier so she didn't bother to hide them.

She walked around town, looking for that radio station Yusuf was scheduled to appear on. She bumped into people's shoulders and apologized before moving on.

"Have to find the radio station," she said aloud in her native English. "Where the hell is that radio station?"

She reached for her flip phone in her back pocket before feeling nothing.

"Crap," she realized, "the flip phone is gone." She checked all her pockets before remembering her taking a tumble down a steep hill. "I was holding the flip phone went I took a tumble down the hill and I lost it. Damn it."

She remembered that she stole the flip phone from the thug carrying her on her shoulders and searched for her personal phone. It was stored in the sole of her sneakers if she recalled.

She went over to a bench to open up a hole in the sole of her shoes and remove a smartphone.

"Thank god I have enough experience to know not to put my phone in my pocket."

She searched for the Wyld TM radio station and found only one result.

"A radio station three miles away," she laughed. "Interesting."

Without wasting any more time, she pocketed her phone and ran off to the radio station, coming up with a plan for when she got there.

Radio Station

Yusuf patted the dirt off his shirt as he sat in the waiting room, patiently waiting for his name to be called up. To prepare himself for the topics he was about to discuss, he looked over his notes as he plugged earbuds into his phone and listened to the radio live. Once the introductory music stopped playing, the voice on the radio began. It was then that he became aware of his foot tapping nervously against the floor.

Why am I so nervous?he asked himself.I have been on the radio dozens of times and I've always been good at delivering current events. Why am I suddenly so nervous?

His neck locked up and he felt himself sitting on a rectangular object in the back of his pants.

Is it because I'm about to go on the air just after committing a crime hours before?

He feels himself begging to sweat and take a deep breath.

It's okay, Yusuf, you got away with the last crime, you'll get away with this crime.

He zones out and doesn't come back to reality until he hears the ending music on the radio.

The reporter who was just on the radio came out of the room with a smile on his face, clearly satisfied that he delivered his take on current events without missing a beat or stuttering. He looked at Yusuf with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Do your best, Yusuf," he said smugly.

"I o-only do my best."

Yusuf regretted stuttering. He stuttered over a single letter but stuttering, in general, was a sign of nervousness and therefore, a sign of weakness.

He picked himself up and walked into the room, preparing to go on the radio when someone coming in from the hallway in front of him bumped into his shoulder. He looked at the culprit, their face hidden by a large fedora and they kept on walking.

"Piç."

The fedora-wearing shoulder bumper walked to the door at the end of the room leading out.

Yusuf gives them the bird before heading into the studio. The studio was the same as it always looked with the headphones and microphones all set up for him and the host of the radio. He composed himself before shaking the host's hand and greeting him in a nice voice.

"Nice to see you again, Yusuf," the host said.

"Always a pleasure to be on the radio," Yusuf said with modesty.

He sat down in the chair, immediately noticing that there was something wrong.

This feeling? What is it?

He shook his backside in the chair.

The chair doesn't feel like it's standing on three legs so what could it be?

He sat up before sitting back down in the chair. Nothing seemed out of place, except he felt like he could sink deeper into the chair.

Deeper?

His eyes went wide with a gasp.

The notebook in my back pocket is gone!

He reached for his back pocket to feel the absence of the notebook and he gaped in front of the host.

"Something wrong, Yusuf?"

Yusuf said nothing, shocked beyond all words to talk.

"YEAH!" Cassie cheered, "GOT MY FREAKING NOTEBOOK BACK!"

She sprinted down the street, holding onto the fedora in her hands before running across the street to a bench. A man with a bald head sat there before looking up at Cassie.

"Here's your fedora," she said.

He thanked her before taking back his property.

She sat down on the bench next to him and took out her journal. "Perfect," she said in English, "everything is back in my control."

The man with the fedora looked at her like she was an alien speaking an incomprehensible language. "What?" he asked in Turkish. He looked down at her notebook. Cassie had drawn a boat in several pages and a mountain on another with a treasure box and a stick of wood on the first page. She flips through the pages, looking over each one carefully before closing the book and putting it in her back pocket. All the man could make out was gibberish and it made him regret not learning English for when an American came to visit.

Cassie turned to look at the man as she sat up. "I would pay for the fedora but fedoras arenotthis treasure hunter's style." She pats him on the shoulder before jogging off.

She takes out her phone and switches to the station Yusuf is using, plugging a pair of earbuds in her ear and listening away to keep track of Yusuf's position.

"Are you serious?" the host asked.

"Yes," Yusuf said, his voice serious, even over the microphone. "I think archeologists are looking for Noah's Ark in Mount Ararat."

"What makes you say that?"

Yusuf cleared his throat before speaking. "I ran into an archaeologist who spoke about being on her way to Mount Ararat to look for Noah's Ark."

"Was this archaeologist anyone famous?"

"You might have heard of her but I'm not going to reveal her name without her consent."

"Why do you think this is important for us to know around the world?"

"It's important for people to know that peoplearelooking into our past. This archaeologist told me that if she can find proof that Noah's Ark existed, then it can change the way we view our history."

"Mr. Bilginer, this is a station about facts, not myths. I don't see why it's any of our business to know what archaeologists are digging in the snows on Mount Ararat."

"It's current events," Yusuf insisted, "it's not just some piece of information going around the world but ancient history that can provide evidence to prove stories from the Bible exist."

"Do you support this archaeologist searching for Noah's Ark?"

Cassie could feel Yusuf nodding over the microphone.

"I do."

"Why is that Mr. Bilginer?"

"Current events, like civil wars in Italy or corruption within governments or global terrorist groups are all a result of our history. The present cannot be made without the past and Noah's Ark is a direct link to the past, which could tell us if God and the Devil existed."

"If God and the Devil existed, then wouldn't that mean Judgement Day exists?"

"That's hard to explain but if there's evidence that Judgement Day exists then it exists but finding Noah's Ark does not prove Judgement Day is a real event."

"The Bible said that Noah's Ark can only be revealed on Judgement Day; that's why people guard the mountain to make sure no one looks for Noah's Ark."

"Yeah and look what good purposeful ignorance has done for us; it created a Sunni Islamic extremist group in Istanbul that kills whoever looks for Noah's Ark." He sighed heavily over the mic. "By purposely blinding ourselves and keeping ourselves in the dark, we will forever live in panic. People fear Noah's Ark being discovered because Judgement Day might rain upon us but how can we know what myths and stories from the Bible are real without seeking for the truth?"

"Mr. Bilginer, I understand your desire to discover the undiscovered but there is a reason science and religion don't work well with each other. Scientists believe that Noah's Ark should be discovered for research while religion believes it should be kept on Mount Ararat for religious purposes. It's like a game of Tug-of-War with winners and losers."

"Why is that?"

"If science wins and proves Noah's Ark is real and Judgement Day does not come about, people will begin to question the authenticity of the Bible. On the other hand, if religion wins and prevents Noah's Ark from being discovered, we will never know the authenticity of the Bible and we'll be left in the dark. Noah's Ark isn't a subject of religion, it's a subject of debate between the mundane and the supernatural. If people discover that Judgment Day is not a real event initiated as when the Bible said, we'll lose believers and if it's real, we'll have brought the apocalypse upon us."

"People are too scared and superstitious nowadays," Yusuf exclaimed exasperated.

"We need something to believe in," the host insisted, "we need people to believe in the unexplained because if there is an explanation for everything, no one will believe in miracles or that there is someone watching over them and that their prayers mean something. Some things just aren't meant to be discovered in this world."

Cassie was cutting across an alley when she heard that sentence and slowed to a stop with her jaw dropping to the floor.

Some things aren't meant to be discovered in this world?she asked herself.I've been on more than enough adventures to know that some things aren't meant to be discovered. The supernatural powers behind these ancient relics and lost cities are too dangerous for human eyes like those creatures from Bird Box.

She leaned against the brick wall.

The Cold Iron, which can summon demons, the god machine in Atlantis that can turn a mortal into a god, and the Philosopher's Stone which can turn metal into gold while prolonging one's life, is all too dangerous for the real world to handle. Then there are things these people can't comprehend in this world like how a Megalodon can exist in the Bermuda Triangle or how mummies are alive or how giant snakes that can turn you into gold like Maducea are real and far too dangerous for the public.

Noah's Ark.Noah's Ark.Noah's Ark.

Cassie touched her temples with both hands and winced.

You must find Noah's Ark...You must find Noah's Ark...

"Damn it," she cried as she fell to her knees.

FIND NOAH'S ARK! FIND NOAH'S ARK!

"I must find Noah's Ark..." she yelled, "I must find Noah's Ark!"

"I'll say."

Cassie's eyes went wide and she turned to search for the voice that spoke to her. Two men standing at the end of the alley were looking at her with blank expressions on their faces.

"Hello," Cassie said nervously, "Hi. I'm not referring to Noah's Ark from the Bible, my little brother is named Noah and he lost his yacht called 'Ark' and I must find it for him."

The man on the left laughed. "He named his yacht after the boat from the bible? That is funny."

"Yeah, and he's a deeply religious person so..."

"Are you sure you're not searching for Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat?"

Cassie laughed nervously and shook her head. "Yeah, I'm sure. Last time I checked at least." She looked at the watch on her right hand. "Yeah, I'm sure and the last time I checked was now."

"You're funny," the man said. "It makes me sad that I'm going to have to kill you."

Cassie blinked rapidly before rubbing her eyes. "What?"

"I said I'm sad I have to kill you."

She turned her head and put a hand behind her ear. "What?"

"I'm going to have to kill you."

"WHAT?!"

The man groans in frustration. "You little-"

Cassie subtly removed her notebook from her back pocket and threw it at the man's face and charged him. The man swatted the notebook away just as Cassie charged into him and shoved him back and onto the ground.

The other man reaches for Cassie before she spins on her heels and delivers a solid front kick to his stomach, uppercuts him, and makes the back of his head slam into the brick wall.

The first man quickly picked himself up, reached behind him, and pulled out a switchblade.

He thrusts the knife at Cassie, who jerks her head back. She was on the defensive as the man held the knife in front of his face, waving it around threateningly.

"You kill Sabri and the others," the man said, "you're the one who wants to look for Noah's Ark."

Cassie's suspicions had been confirmed.

He's one of Yusuf's friends.

"You must have me mistaken for someone else; I'm scheduled to board a cruise ship, not Noah's Ark."

"Keep talking, Drake."

He thrusts the knife at her.

She catches his wrist, twists it until she hears a bone pop, yanks the knife, and stabs him in the knee with it.

The second man lying on the ground swept Cassie off her feet and climbed on top of her.

Cassie punches him in the jaw and shoves him back but he holds on by grabbing her by her hair.

The man with the knife cried in pain as he swiftly removed the knife from his knee and climbed on top of Cassie to stab her.

Cassie saw the knife coming and yanked the second man into the path of the knife.

The knife cut into the back of the man's throat and made him go stiff. The man with the knife gasped and let go of his grip on the knife, leaving it buried to the hilt in the man's nape.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed remorsefully to his companion.

The second man reached behind him with shaking hands, removed the knife with a scream at the top of his lungs, and slashed his accomplice across the throat with it.

"Taking you..." the second man gasped, "with... me!"

Both men fell over and made gurgling sounds as they slowly bled out.

Cassie picked up the notebook from the ground and crawled as far back as she could from the two bodies before her back hit the wall, shaking and trembling as the adrenaline sensation caught up with her.

"Holy crap," she whispered, "I was... I was not..."

She couldn't find the words to speak her mind and picked herself up but kept her back to the wall.

"With friends like that, who needs enemies?" she lightly chuckled before turning away from the corpses and running off across the alley.

Four people ambushed me near the shack and these two guys were in the alley. That leaves a grand total of six guys left, including Yusuf. I like my chances.

She ran in the direction of the airport.

I'll just take back my treasure box and see if I can get a ticket on the next plane to Istanbul, and hideout until tomorrow.

Chapter 10: Stowaways Allowed

Chapter Text

It was the opposite of quiet in the plane: Loud. The passengers in the military plane were chatting and talking about their day-to-day lives, talking about how much they despised working 9 to 5 and slowly dying each day. They spoke about their time in Afghanistan when they were a part of the Navy SEALs and how much fun they had in combat. They talked about how they wished that Erica Lowell was there with them to catch up on old times.

It's why Derek felt like an outsider on this plane.

He sat in the corner of the plane, hutched up with his gaze avoiding his mother's former teammates as he looked down at his phone. He tried calling Cassie several times throughout the plane ride but she never picked up. This was a sign that she was either in trouble or her phone is dead or turned off.

"This was the break I've been looking for," Alec said to his fellow private military contractors, "a chance to go out in the field and blow sh*t up; they say you never forget your first, and I never forgot the first time I snuffed out a person's light."

"Yeah," Tyler nodded, "it's a nice break from working nonstop every day as a construction worker."

"At least you go to do physical labor; I'm a car salesman."

"Ooh, get me a discount on a brand new Camaro?"

"Nope."

"Worth a shot."

Derek looked down at his phone and turned it on again. "I don't..." he whispered with hesitation.

These guys disturb me,he thought,but it's better that they kill people than I do.

He dialed Cassie again. "Please pick up."

She didn't pick up.

He couldn't handle the conversation about the PMCs talking about killing so he took out his earbuds and turned on the radio. There was no wifi on this plane so he settled to listen to whatever was on the radio and he bought satellite radio.

He switched to whatever radio station was live at the moment and tuned the world out, turning the stations until he heard '-looking for Noah's Ark in Mount Ararat.'

He switched back to the station.

Guest: "I ran into an archaeologist who spoke about being on her way to Mount Ararat to look for Noah's Ark."

Host: "Was this archaeologist anyone famous?"

Guest: "You might have heard of her but I'm not going to reveal her name without her consent."

Host: "Why do you think this is important for us to know around the world?"

Guest: "It's important for people to know that people are looking into our past. This archaeologist told me that if she can find proof that Noah's Ark existed, then it can change the way we view our history."

Host: "Mr. Bilginer, this is a station about facts, not myths. I don't see why it's any of our business to know what archaeologists are digging in the snows on Mount Ararat."

Derek quickly opened up a new tab and looked up the location of where this station was broadcasting. Once he found the location, he sprinted for the pilot, kicking the door open and grabbing the pilot's shoulder.

"Take us to Gökçeada," he ordered.

"Why?" the pilot asked.

"It's where Cassie is. Fly us there!"

The pilot knocked Derek's hand away. "If you say so; it should take us forty-five minutes to get there from here."

Derek returned to his seat and buckled up, tapping his feet nervously against the floor.

Hang on, Cassie.

Cassie punched in the combination to her locker and removed her treasure box inside. After she retrieved the treasure box, she retrieved the luggage she left at the airport and asked a desk clerk for the earliest flight to Istanbul the next day. When she got a reply that it was going to be late in the afternoon, she groaned before taking her luggage and running off. She would've asked for a ticket but the clerk told her she could look up more information on her phone and to leave because she was holding up the line.

Because Cassie planned on staying for a few hours when landing, she did not book a hotel or place of dwelling so she was off on the streets.

She kept running and running until she made it back to the market earlier and she spotted that homeless person from earlier.

"I remember you," the homeless man said.

"Yeah, I am just that famous," Cassie joked.

He noticed the bags she was carrying. "Leaving so soon already?"

"Yep," Cassie nodded. "I must get out of here."

"Do you not like it here?"

"I love thisplacebut not some of the people."

He sighed like an annoyed parent. "What did these people do to you? Not recognize you?"

She laughed. "Funny." She put the luggage down and sat next to him.

"You should be careful; I have not showered in a week."

"It's okay; if I can put up Grandpa Sully's disgusting cigars, I can put up with your reek."

She frowned in her head.I miss you every day, Sully.

She looked up at the sky.

Hey, Noah, if you're real and up there, can you send me a sign that Sully is doing okay up there? Any sign will suffice.

She looks around, expecting something to happen.

I'll even take no sign as a sign.

Nothing happens.

Well, no sign is a sign.

"What's in that box you're carrying?" the homeless man asked.

She picked up the treasure box. "The remains of Noah's Ark left behind by a famous explorer named Alexander Goldman that I've been compelled to find ever since I touched it." She spoke with a blank expression on her face and monotone in her voice.

The homeless man laughed. "Whatever you say, American."

Cassie laughed.

The sun was almost done setting and she so wanted to close her eyes and sleep through the night but she knew that she had to remain alert; Yusuf was still out there and he had five guys with him. Staying awake was much easier said than done because her eyelids were getting heavy and her eyeballs started rolling to the back of her skull. She pulled her knees to her chest and laid her arms across them, setting her forehead down to close her eyes.

When she is pulled out of her rest seconds later, it is because of the homeless man tugging on her arms and motioning at her shoes, a vibrating sound coming from them.

"Oh," Cassie suddenly remembered, "my phone is in the heel of my shoes."

She took out her phone and answered the incoming call. A quick check with Caller ID told her who it was.

"Derek?" she said.

"Cassie," Derek panted and sighed heavily. "Oh, thank goodness."

"You okay? You sound like you finished a marathon or something."

"I'm coming, Cassie. I'll be landing in Gökçeada soon."

"Well-" she shut herself up once she realized what Derek said. "How do you know where I am?"

"A reporter on some radio station said that there's an archaeologist in Gökçeada looking for Noah's Ark. Doesn't take much of a genius to figure out who that person is."

Yusuf,Cassie thought.

"Derek, wherever you are, just pick me up and fly me out of here as soon as possible. Don't wait for anything or anyone. Tell me where you're going to touchdown, I'll run down, and then fly me out of here once I get on the plane."

"Cassie," he exclaimed with disappointment. "Getting yourself shot at again?"

"Just get me out of here; tell me where you're going to land."

Derek stepped away from the phone to ask somebody on the other end of the phone. "What's your current position?"

She told him.

"Okay, there's a landing strip three miles to the south of your location. I'll be arriving via plane in twenty minutes or so."

"I'll run there," Cassie said. "Don't stop that plane for a single second; just land with the side door open, pull me in, and then fly off. Nothing more than that."

"See ya in twenty minutes."

He hung up the phone.

Cassie's drowsiness from earlier suddenly became nonexistent as she picked herself up, putting her hoisting her luggage up with one hand with the treasure box in the other. She turned to look down at the homeless man and offered him a smile.

"Thanks for watching out for me," she said. "But I got a plane to catch."

Without waving the homeless man goodbye, she ran.

Cassie ran back to where she buried the guns in the ditch and holstered them in the back of her pants before she ran off to the landing strip three miles from the small town. She hightailed it as soon as she could, running through trees and forests, tripping twice but picking herself up immediately after and running off once more.

"Which way did she go?"

"That way?"

"Thank you."

"Mr. Bilginer, you promised to give me money if I told you."

"Here you go."

"Thank you and if I'm allowed to ask, what do you need this young woman for?"

"I already told you: An interview."

Cassie made it to the landing strip, drenched in sweat and breathing so hard her chest was rising. The arm she was using to carry her luggage was sore and the arm carrying the treasure box was becoming sweaty and difficult to cling on.

The landing strip Derek directed her to was made of dirt with all directions covered in trees. If she had to guess, Derek would be coming in from the west, which was to her left. She turned in that direction and saw a plane in the distance, the sounds of the engines becoming louder as it got closer.

"Over here," she yelled and jumped up since her hands were full of luggage. "Rescue me."

The plane that was descending on the runway was an A400M Atlas that was getting bigger and bigger than Cassie could ever comprehend. She knew Derek was coming in a plane but a military aircraft?

Derek either got the military involved or he hijacked a plane. Either way, I hope those people had permission to fly a military aircraft overseas.

Realizing that the plane had touched down, she began sprinting in the plane's direction, doing a heel-turn and running across the runway to keep up with the plane.

"Open the door!" she shouted. "Open the goddamn door!"

The plane slowed to match her speed and Cassie was barely keeping up with the plane so she set to focus on the side door closest to her and rushed for it.

The carrier opened instead of the side door.

"Jesus, is the pilot drunk or something?! Open the side door."

The side door opened and Derek held a hand out for Cassie.

"Hurry," he urged, "before we run out of runway."

She tosses him her luggage, which he catches and sets to the side. He tosses the treasure box inside, which he catches and sets to the side. She jumps for it and latches onto the floor of the side door before Derek grabs her shoulder and pulls her in.

Derek closed the side door, sealing it tight before shouting, "Take off!"

The backdoor closed as the plane picked up speed and took off.

Cassie sighed, settled her back to the wall, and caught her breath. "Thank Noah."

A voice in the crowd spoke up, "The expression is 'Thank God' but it's good to have diversity in religion."

Cassie looked over at him and recognized him.

"Tyler, nice to see ya."

"You too, Friend of Lowell."

Speaking of which...

She looks at Derek. He was towering over her with a relieved face.

"You look happy to see me," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"We'll talk once we've landed down," he said.

She nodded. "You're right, I'll go secure my luggage."

"There's a locker over there," he pointed.

The inside of the plane was crowded with boxes with parachutes attached and the lights were tinted so it was dark. She found the locker at the back of the plane like Derek told her and used the key left in the lock to open and put her luggage and treasure box inside.

"HANDS UP!"

Cassie threw her hands up and turned around, seeing only a giant crate. When she found out where that command came from, she hid behind a crate and looked at Derek's position to see-

YUSUF!

Yusuf was yelling on the plane and shouting for others to get down, he and his crew were armed to the teeth with assault rifles.

How did he get on the plane?

She remembers the backdoor being lowered.

Those bastards must've climbed in through the back when the backdoor was open. I snuck past them without even realizing it.

Two men behind Yusuf were holding several soldiers and Derek hostage. The tall one was kicking a downed Derek in the stomach while the short one was striking PMCs with the butt of his rifle.

Cassie looked to her right and saw the side door from earlier, unguarded and ripe for the taking.

"Where's Drake?" Yusuf shouted.

He doesn't know where I am, good.

She takes out her grappling hook and she swings it around.

"Look for her!"

Cassie counted six amateurs and they all had their backs turned to her.

That's why they're amateurs.

She prepared to throw her grappling hook.

The plane should be pressurized. It's now or never.

She roped the handle of the side door, pulled with all her strength, and opened the door.

"Get down!"

Cassie grabbed onto the crate with the parachute and held on as a gush of window blew in and sucked anything out.

The thug that was kicking Derek earlier lost his balanced and was sucked into space like a bug in a giant vacuum.

Two of the thugs crawled into the path of PMCs clinging to seatbelts and put in headlocks as they disarmed them of their assault rifles.

The first thug was shot in the skull while the other one had his head bashed with a fire extinguisher.

Three left,she thought.

She turned around and a fist connected to her jaw. The plane depressurized so getting sucked out of the side door wasn't a problem but there were still three thugs left on board.

Cassie knocked the assault rifle out of his grip and shoved him into the wall. He grabbed her by the side and slammed her against the wall. He pulled her off but she grabbed hold of something and it caused the backdoor to lower.

She realized she pulled the lever to lower the backdoor and cursed in her head. She punched her attacker in the jaw before shoving him back and tackling him into the wall. As they backed up onto the edge leading to the backdoor, where their fight continues, one of the unsecured crates came loose and slammed into both Cassie and the thug as it was sucked out of the plane.

Cassie grabbed the end of her grappling hook, dug it into a hole in the floor,, and hung on the end of the rope mid-flight while the crate and attacker disappeared into the clouds.

Just like Dad'sIram of the Pillars adventure,she laughed in her head.Fate, you have a twisted sense of humor.

Even though she was hanging by a rope that was about to disconnect, she couldn't help but admire this feeling of pleasure as she was floating in the sky. She wondered if this was what it felt like to fly but decided not to linger on it as she climbed the rope and grabbed hold of the backdoor.

A second thug went tumbling down the backdoor, rolling beside Cassie before she punched him in the face and yanked him by his shoulder.

The man screams as he falls over the edge.

"I recommend using a parachute but if you want to dofreefreefalling then that's your choice!"

She pulled herself on board and ran for the lever, pushing it back into place, closing the backdoor and finally getting a chance to breathe.

"Hahaha," she laughed, "now that was fun." She put a hand on her heart to count how many beats she was making. Then it hit her.

I counted five thugs that went down.

She turned back to the center of the plane and ran towards it. On the floor was Yusuf being kicked in the stomach by Tyler, Alec, and two other PMCs. Derek, hiding behind a crate, came out and approached Cassie with a hug.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she answered.

"Sorry about that last guy; I shoved him to the back."

"And I shoved him out so we're both to blame." She looked at Yusuf. "That's enough guys," she urged as she held a hand up, "there's no point in kicking a downed enemy."

"No way, Cass," Alec said dryly, "stowaways on our plane and holding us at gunpoint is punishment enough for a beating."

Yusuf covered himself with his arms and knees.

"He can't defend himself; let him go."

When she saw that they weren't going to budge, she ran up and shoved Alec against the wall. He turned at her and co*cked his fist back before Tyler put an arm in front of him.

"She's right," Tyler said, "there's no use in kicking him while he's down."

"But sir."

Tyler turns to Yusuf and approaches him, kneeling and looking at him in his face, which is covered in cuts and bruises.

"You screwed the pooch on this one whoever you are," Tyler said menacingly, "you didn't have to hold us at gunpoint on this plane. But you chose to."

"Wasn't going to kill you," Yusuf spat. "Needed Drake alive to find Noah's Ark before she destroyed it."

"At the cost of you and your friends' lives?" He gestured to the thugs killed by the PMCs with a headshot and fire extinguisher. "We're not going to kill you."

"What?" Yusuf exclaimed.

"We're going to set you free."

He smiled mischievously.

"Freefalling."

Tyler, Alec, and three others picked up Yusuf by the limbs and dragged him like a corpse in a body bag to the carrier.

"No," Cassie protested, "don't kill him!"

Derek grabbed her by the arms to prevent her from going after him. She looked at him with a hint of betrayal on her face.

The soldiers carried Yusuf over to the edge and heaved him back and forth.

"BOMBS AWAY!" they chanted before throwing the reporter out of the plane.

They cheered as they watched the body vanish into the clouds, patting each other on the back and high-fiving.

Cassie scowled at Derek. "Why didn't you let me save him?!"

"He was going to hurt you!" Derek shouted back.

"He was incapacitated!"

"Better him than you."

For some reason, those words stung Cassie worse than any bullet she'd been shot with or any knife she'd been slashed with.

Chapter 11: Allies

Chapter Text

Istanbul, Turkey

Cassie and Derek said nothing on the rest of the flight. At first, Cassie thought they were heading back to Hawaii but was caught off-guard when the pilots landed in Istanbul. She didn't want to talk to Derek so she asked Tyler why they landed in Istanbul.

"Derek ordered us to," he answered as they landed.

Cassie stepped off the plane, dressed in a gray henley with jeans and sneakers, her grappling hook at her side and climbing piton on her other hip. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes.

Derek stepped after her, dressed in an army green henley with black pants and combat boots. He reluctantly reached out and was about to touch Cassie's shoulder when Tyler interrupted him.

"You promised us thugs to kill and those stowaways on the plane aren't enough to fulfill the deal. Bring us more thugs to shoot at and we'll buy you dinner."

Derek cringed and turned away from his mother's former teammate.

The two young adventurers stepped off the runway and stood near a tree with their arms crossed over their chests.

"Your objective in Turkey," Derek began hesitantly.

"Find the Priest and verify if the wood in that treasure box was actually taken from Noah's Ark," Cassie finished.

Derek nodded. "Sounds simple enough." He looked over his shoulder to see Alec carrying Cassie's luggage off the plane. "I'm wary of Alec and Tyler because those guys are dangerous."

He remembered Alec almost striking her.

I'll kill him if he even thinks about laying a finger on her.

Cassie looked at Derek.

Derek's going through something; he would've objected to cold-blooded execution.

She thought back to what Carla said about him becoming cold-blooded.

I pray to God that there are no bad guys to shoot in self-defense on this adventure but history proves that to be impossible.She looked back at the PMCs.On the other hand, those guys are dangerous and are trigger-happy with extremely itchy trigger fingers.She shifted glances between the soldiers and Derek.If I play my cards right, I can get those sociopathic soldiers to do the killing so Derek won't have to cross any lines.

Cassie took out her phone and looked through her contacts, trying to remember what the Priest's number was. Once it came to her head, she scrolled through the list until she found the contact and dialed him up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Father Priest."

The soldiers dropped them off at their destination before leaving to who-knows-where.

Cassie knocked on the door and smiled gleefully when she met the Priest face-to-face.

"Son of a bitch," the Priest laughed, "Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell, legendary treasure hunters."

"Hello, Priest." She hugged him after setting down her luggage. "How have you been?"

"As good as God expects me to be." He looks to Derek and shakes his hand before pulling him into a hug. "Hello, Derek the Wolf."

"'Derek the Wolf' does sound catchy," he laughed. "How's Bethany doing?"

"Come in and ask her yourself."

The two adventurers invited themselves in and met a young girl sitting on the couch with a math book in her hand.

She looked up and her eyes brightened with glee.

"Cassie," she squealed before running and throwing her hands around the girl.

"What's up, Little B? Staying in school and staying off of drugs?"

"You know it, sis," Bethany laughed. "By the way, are you shrinking because you were taller last time."

"No, I think you're trying to make yourself sound bigger because you're too afraid to admit you have a boyfriend."

Bethany shook her head. "Idon'thave a boyfriend."

"Your uncle said you have a boyfriend." She kneels. "Can I meet him?"

"Stop it." Bethany blushed. "I don't have a boyfriend, you boyfriend-less woman."

She shrugged. "Well, Derek is aboyand he is myfriend."

"Then why don't you hurry up and kiss?"

Derek raised his hand. "I'm right here just so you know."

Bethany laughed before running up to hug the young man.

"Howya been?"

"As good as God expects me to be."

The two treasure hunters look at the Priest and replay his sentence in their heads.

The Priest spoke, "For some reason, I feel trepidation if you came here just to catch up."

"Then you can stop holding your breath because our visit is strictly business." Cassie picked up the treasure box at her feet. "With a touch of pleasure; always nice to work with you guys."

She opened the treasure box with the combination on the bottom and displayed the wooden bark.

"What is it?"

"You're the only Priest I know who dabbles in Catholicism and Hebrew and has a degree in Biblical archaeology." She hands him the box. "Work your 'studying of biblical artifact' skills on this gemstone."

The Priest took the box. "If you say so; you're more than welcome to help yourself to any food. Just recently, we went to McDonald's."

"That's my food!" Bethany yelled.

"You snooze, you lose."

"Uncle!"

The Priest laughed. "I'm kidding. But help yourself."

Cassie clapped her hands. "I always help myself to free food, Father."

"I hope there are strawberries," Derek murmured.

Cassie, Derek, and Bethany went to the fridge to pull food and Bethany's leftover McDonald's and ate at the table while the Priest went to the couch to look over the artifact.

Cassie took a bite of food known as Kıyma kebabı and savored the taste of the delicious meat.

"So," Bethany said as she finished a chicken nugget, "what you in Istanbul for? What treasure is the famous Cassie Drake searching for now?"

"A boat on Mount Ararat," Cassie monotoned.

"Noah's Ark," Bethany deduced.

"Yeah," Derek said, "we're here for Noah's Ark."

Cassie looked at her companion suspiciously.

In the beginning, he was all for me not going but now she's pulling a heel-face turn? He knows I'm going after Noah's Ark regardless and decided to not argue about it I guess.She felt a twinge of pain in her heart.I'm sorry for making you suffer, Derek.

"Can I go with you?" Bethany asked with an oh-so-innocent expression.

Cassie looked distressfully at Derek, who returned the gaze. She quickly took another bite of her lamb to block out the young girl's question. She had been on enough adventures to predict what would happen: In all her adventures, the villains always meet them at the desired location and they would aim guns at them and threaten to shoot them. She had killed a lot of people in her time, all in self-defense or out of mercy, and those deaths haunted her.

Bethany was only thirteen and to put her life in danger like that, she would never forgive herself.

"I will bring you back a picture, how does that sound?" Cassie faced her, putting on a smile.

Bethany rolled her eyes. "Super." She looked away. "Do you want a chicken nugget, Derek?"

He nodded and accepted six pieces. "Thank you."

"Why can't I go with you?"

"You know why," Derek answered without humor, "this life is fun under the right circ*mstances but it's a tragedy that there's a big price to pay."

"Uncle told me what he does and I want to see a treasure from the bible," Bethany chuckled. "To see if an artifact like Noah's Ark or Aaron's Rod is real would excite me." She reached into her pocket and pulled something out. "Look at this."

Cassie took it and looked over it.

An amulet with a symbol of a circle with a cross in the center with three lines dragged across the center horizontally.

"Beautiful," Cassie admired, "where did you get this."

"Uncle found it on one of his digs in Bursa and he gave it to me as a gift. He said that this could be an amulet made by people ruled by Solomon. He said this is one of two amulets and the other one is still to be looked for. I'm hoping to find it."

She flipped the amulet over to see an image carved into the back. When she looked into the image, she could make out a tall figure wearing a crown with a rod over his shoulder.

"Hebrew writing on the edges," she observed, "do you know what it says?"

"A king for a king," Bethany answered, "so nice being multilingual."

"I'll say," Cassie laughed, "I can say 'hello' in thirty different languages."

"Oh..." the Priest exclaimed, "my... G-" he cut himself off at the last syllable. "-osh."

"Ooh, Uncle was about to take the lord's name in vain," Bethany mocked.

"He'll forgive me." He sat up and looked at Cassie. He gestured to the box. "If what I'm getting is true then this came from Noah's Ark itself." He held up the wood. "This wood is made of contents that I've never seen before. I could look up all types of wood on the internet and I'm sure I would never find a match. This wood is thousands of years old and has never rotted."

"Really?" Cassie smiled. "Iknewthat was real."

"Where in the world did you find this?"

"Two guys at college handed it to me. It's a box belonging to Alexander Goldman."

"He died three years ago," the Priest mentioned.

Cassie took the treasure box. She flipped it over to play with the dials that opened the box in the first place. "At least he left enough clues for us to get by. I mean, how often do-"

She stopped mid-sentence when she noticed something with the dials.

The dials made a symbol of some kind. When she first turned the dials, they spelled out 'Noah's Ark' in Hebrew and when she was playing with them randomly, they made a symbol. The symbol: a circle with a cross in the center with three lines dragged across the center horizontally... the same symbol on Bethany's amulet.

What does this mean?she asked herself.Noah, can you give me an answer?

Like someone picking up a ringing phone, Noah gave her a sign.

Cassie was back in the same place where she was in the last vision, holding the two sticks of wood in her hand and drenched with rain. She spots a lighthouse ahead and dives into the water, swimming as fast as she can to land. Just as she reached a rock sticking out in water big enough for her to cling to, she noticed the lighthouse wasn't a lighthouse but an outstandingly tall church with a cross at the very top.

She climbs on top of the rocks and swims up to the church. Once she found a handhold to cling onto, she climbed inside through an open window and climbed her way down to the bottom.

"Terra firma," she laughed. She made sure the two sticks were secure in her hand before putting them in her back pocket. She looked around to see she was standing on a set of wooden stairs and the ground was a short distance away. She looked over the edge just as the bridge collapsed underneath her.

She grabbed the edge of the stairs that didn't disconnect and hung on for dear life. She climbed up and felt the stairs start to collapse beneath her. Not taking any chances, she ran down the stairs that didn't disconnect and kept running and running. When she made it to the second floor, the entire set of stairs collapsed all around her and she went falling. She took out her climbing piton and jammed it into the wall but the wall disconnected and she fell. She took out her grappling hook and threw it out to a support beam and swung to the ground before she lost her grip and fell back-first onto the floor.

"Ow," she groaned. She moved out the way just as the rest of the stairs came falling.

"Wow, that could've gone better."

She looks up to see Derek standing in the corner.

"What is going on here?"

"I can't answer that but I will give you a helping hand."

He held up his hand and a stick of wood materialized in it. Cassie reached for her back pocket to find only one wooden piece in her possession.

"How did you do that?"

Derek shushed her before heading for the rubble and hiding it under the debris in a spot near the wall with a vertical line drawn in the center.

"Wait," she exclaimed and ran for it.

Derek caught her in his grasp and held her back.

"It's okay, Cassie, you'll find the second piece on your own. If you find the second piece, you'll know exactly where Noah's Ark is."

"That's a lie."

"Is it?"

He grabs her by the chin and forces her to look at him.

They lean in for a kiss when-

"Cassie!"

Cassie snapped out of her fantasy and landed on the seat of her pants, sweating like a heroin addict.

"What the hell was that?" Derek asked. "You dozed off!"

Cassie couldn't bear to look at him knowing she was about to kiss him seconds ago. She quickly thought of an excuse. "Epiphany is all."

"An epiphany?"

"Yes," she insisted, "I think I have an idea as to where the clue to finding Noah's Ark is."

Derek sighed heavily. "Are you really going to look for that clue?"

Cassie said nothing and Derek was not the 'no news is good news' type of guy.

There was nothing for Tyler and Alec to do except pace around an area known as the Bazaar and mind their own business as the natives drank themselves to death. It had been hours after the first kill in a long time and they thought it was time to celebrate.

Tyler and Alec lead the thirteen mercenaries to the biggest bar they can spot and walk in with their combat boots thumping against the wooden ground. The people in the bar stared at the foreigners with curiosity and watched as they strolled up to the bar, holding wads of Turkish currency up at the bar.

"The best kind of beer you got," Tyler told the bartender, switching languages.

"I speak English," the bartender said.

"Then that should make things easier, bartender," Tyler droned.

"My name is Arda." He looked at the wad of cash in his hands. "We have a policy not to overserve."

"Make an exception for us," Tyler pleaded, "we're feeling quite an ebullience and wish to celebrate aeonian."

Arda blinked with wide eyes. "What the hell did you say?"

"We scored and we want beer. The best beer you got."

Alec patted Tyler on the back. "My friend here has a pension for the circumlocution-"

"Stop talking!" the bartender shouted. Before the soldiers could react, he snatched the wad of cash out of their hands before grabbing several shot glasses for the soldiers and filling each one to the brim.

"And we were wondering if we could take a bottle home," Alec thought aloud.

"The sh*t I have to go through to shut Americans like you up; this is why nobody likes Americans."

Tyler grabbed the bartender by the collar of his shirt. "Watch it; I've killed dozens who pissed me off like you in Afghanistan. Course, they were Taliban but irrelevant. Stop blaming America and saying nobody likes us. If nobody likes us, why do they cross into our borders?" He smiled cheekily at the bartender before letting him go.

"Where did you even get this money?"

"Our friend Lowell has currency from all countries in his arsenal. Now fill our order."

Arda grunted before he finished filling up the shot glasses. After making sure they were satisfied with their care, he ran to the back of the bar and pulled out a radio.

'Lowell' as in 'Derek Lowell'? If these hogs are with that Lowell then that means Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell are in Turkey and they brought reinforcements. How very interesting.

He turned on his walkie-talkie to warn his superior.

Chapter 12: Who Would've Known

Chapter Text

Overlord Base

"Son of a bitch," Burak hissed.

Leyla approached her husband, who was pacing back and forth in the room. "What the matter?"

"Our inside man with the sissies said that Drake and Lowell are in Istanbul and they brought backup."

"'Backup' as in…"

"Ex-military."

Leyla thought back to something she heard in a briefing. "Derek Lowell's mother was in the Navy so it wouldn't be a stretch to assume these ex-military guys are connected to her."

"If they brought the military with us, it means they were expecting resistance."

"The Sunni Islam Specialists seem useless at this point if they brought in the military."

"Hate to say it but Overlord is going to have to get involved."

She cupped her husband's cheek. "What's the plan?"

"We put extra guards on all our excavation sites, tell our soldiers to thread around the Omega Target with extreme caution." He turns to his wife. "I say that if it were up to me, I'd send our four best assassins after her."

"Only four?" she laughed.

"You're right; Cassie deserves to be sniped by one assassin."

She shook her head. "Focus," she ordered him, "if you let Drake cloud your mind, you'll lose sight of our mission." She cups both of his cheeks. "We are here to look for Aaron's Rod."

He turned away and paced to the end of the room and faced the wall. "Cassie does not deserve the breath she breathes. All the people that died because of her, it should be our mission to kill Drake." He sucks air through his teeth. "I just want to grab her by the throat and strangle her until she's no longer breathing. That evil witch."

Leyla reached for the desk and removed a cigarette. She lit it with her lighter and put it in her husband's mouth.

He took a quick drag before facing his wife. "What for?"

"Smoking seems to calm you down."

He took a quick drag before turning away from his wife. "Sorry for getting hysterical."

"You're human; you have every right to vent." She grabs him by the arm. "The soldiers in Hawaii said that she is in Turkey to look for Noah's Ark. Unless Aaron's Rod is connected to Noah's Ark in some way, we shouldn't have a problem."

"We can't take any chances." He took out his radio.

"All embedded units in Istanbul, Omega Target is in the country. Intel said she's looking for Noah's Ark. I don't see how Omega Target can target us for looking for a separate object but take no chances. I want all excavation sites armed to the teeth with guns. If you see Omega Target, shoot on sight but make sure to keep her alive. Anyone who kills her will answer to our Leader and the Leader can show… 'mercy' in the most merciless way to those who disobey direct orders from higher-ups. Eyes and ears open for her. Be advised, she has military reinforcements with her."

Golden Church

"So, how did you figure out this church is the one we're looking for?" Derek asked.

The next day, Cassie and Derek drove to a market where the priest told them that there was an old church on the edge of town that had been around since before Turkey became a country. The church had a cross at the very top of Jesus Christ that had been painted gold and polished on a regular basis and if what she read was true, then there was a section of the church sealed off with no one knowing how to get inside.

How Cassie deduced that this was the church she was looking for was the church looked identical to the church in her visions. If what 'Hallucination Derek' said was true then once she found the second piece taken from Noah's Ark, she'll know Noah's Ark's exact location.

They parked their jeep at the curb and began walking towards the church.

"The dials on the treasure box," she answered, "they spelled out Golden Church is Hebrew and there's only one church in Istanbul that was painted gold."

"You really think there is a map that will show us where the Noah's Ark is really in this church?" Derek asked. "You're basing all this on dials on a box?"

"Alexander Goldman knew more about Noah's Ark than he's letting on.

"Or maybe he has such an inflated ego that he made it so that the dials spell 'gold'."

Cassie laughed. "Trust me on this." She looks at his waist. "Got your grappling hook and climbing piton?"

He gestured to his equipment. "Yep."

"Gun?"

He tapped the small of his back. "Tucked away in the back of my pants."

She touched her back. "Same."

"But to shoot guns in a church, wouldn't that make you crazy?"

"Yeah, that'd make me crazy. But we've seen crazy before," Cassie answered with a laugh.

"Well, let's hope there are no trigger-happy journalists out to get ya."

Cassie bumped into a woman in a large crowd and said 'sorry' in Turkish.

"You know, there is a painter over here," Derek said from a distance. He was observing a young woman with brown hair dyed red painting a portrait of a dark-skinned man.

Cassie noticed that he was looking more at the girl and not the painting.

A threat.

"Okay, stop stalling, we gotta go,"

"Okay," Derek left.

They walked in the direction of the church until Cassie felt something on her calf.

She smiled when she saw what it was. "Hey, there little guy." She kneeled to pet the creature. "Hey Derek, it's a white-headed duck!"

Derek turned his head and saw Cassie rubbing the duck's feathers.

"Hey, you like it when I scratch you?" Cassie began scratching the back of the duck's neck. "Suppose you haven't seen Noah's Ark lately," Cassie chuckled before carefully picking the duck up and pulling out her phone from her pocket. She takes a selfie with the duck. Derek made his way over and joined them.

After a few selfies, Cassie gave it one last pet before setting him down. "Go on, go back to your home," Cassie waved goodbye as the white-headed duck walked to a pond with another white-headed duck, a female.

"So cute," Cassie said, putting the phone in her pocket, taking out her journal, and sketching the white-headed duck.

"They're endangered from what I hear," Derek said offhandedly. "When you think about it because they are animals and are living out their lives without a care about the fact they're endangered. It's a bit of mercy for them not knowing they're about to die."

"I wish I could adopt," Cassie said.

"A duck?"

"That duck is so cute," she squealed, "don't you want a duck for a pet?"

She remembered Vicky.

No one can ever replace you, Vicky. I promise.

After walking for a few minutes until the town was out of sight, they came upon the church hiding in a forest covered in trees. Cassie took out her binoculars and looked at the cross at the top.

"A giant cross painted gold, are we sure we're not Agent 007 trying to take down Goldfinger?" she joked.

Derek took the binoculars to get a look. He spotted something. "Look, up there!"

Cassie squinted and leaned forward.

There were ten men dressed in black carrying assault rifles patrolling the front of the church.

"Trouble?"

Derek looked at the patches on their shoulders. The insignia on their shoulder patches was the earth with black oceans and red landmasses. There was a phrase written in gibberish across the front but he couldn't make it out.

"Overlord," Cassie hissed.

"WHAT?!" Derek gasped with horror. "Overlord? The global terrorist group?"

"Yep," Cassie confirmed. "Our old enemies from our Cleopatra and Antony adventure."

"It's been two years; how can you tell?"

"I know Overlord like the back of my hand. The way they walk, the way they carry their guns, and the way they're all wearing AceFlak jackets."

"AceFlak?"

"They're jackets that can change temperatures to adapt to any environment. The crates have the Overlord insignia painted on the front. If they're here then that means..."

"Overlord is looking for Noah's Ark?"

Cassie shook her head. "No, Overlord can't be looking for Noah's Ark as there is no benefit for them. More than likely, they are looking for something in that church." She drew her gun. "We might have to shoot our way in."

Derek turned away feeling nauseous. "I don't want to kill anyone; I knew we should've brought Tyler and Alec and the old gang."

"Call them if you want but I'm not going to wait around." She steps down the hill and charges for the church.

"What are you doing?" He jumped after her. "Come back here."

The duo ran up to the front of the church and hid behind a tree, loading a magazine into their pistols.

Cassie counted the soldiers. "Two against ten, since when have the odds ever been in our favor, Suzanne Collins?"

"Maybe we don't have to-"

A gun fired off and hit the space of wood near Cassie's head, causing her to recoil.

"Sniper!"

She crouches down and runs into a bush to take cover. Derek fires blindly in the location where he assumed the sniper was.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" a soldier shouted in English. "I.D. THE ENEMY BEFORE YOU TAKE POTSHOTS!"

The sniper hiding in the tree pulled the bolt to his rifle back and aimed. "Roger that."

Cassie spotted the sniper by the glint of his scope and aimed.

The sniper aimed around the area where Cassie was located and spotted her. Before he could say anything, she fired.

The bullet hit the sniper's scope and shattered the lens, taking away his advantage of long-distance fighting.

"If someone's going to kill me, I'd rather see their faces!" she shouted. "No snipers or thugs hiding behind tinted windows allowed."

The other soldiers open fire on Cassie's position, aiming for the ground around her to swarm her. They started flanking to close in on her when Derek aimed and shot two of them in the chest and killed them.

The soldiers went back to cover and hid behind crates.

Cassie leaped out of the bush, landed on her side, and open fired on the soldiers, hitting one in the shoulder and incapacitating him.

Cassie ran forward and slid across the ground, picking up an AK-47 from a dead soldier and firing on the soldiers hiding behind the crates to her left. The bullets penetrated through the crates and took down the five soldiers hiding behind.

The sniper in the trees decided he didn't need a scope and raised his MKE JNG-90 and fired.

The assault rifle was shot out of Cassie's grip and left her at the mercy of a soldier who stood up from behind the crate in front of her.

Cassie couldn't do much on the ground defenseless with a soldier standing over her aiming an assault rifle at her. All she could do was take a chance. She didn't know what was inside the crate that the soles of her sneakers were touching but she knew that it was thin and weak enough for bullets to penetrate so she had to take a chance. Jump in with both feet.

Or rather, 'kick out with both feet'.

She kicked the crate with strength in both feet and the crate tipped over on its back. The soldier jumped out of the way to avoid getting his feet crushed as the crate slammed down into the ground with a loud thud and looked back at Omega Target as she drew a handful of dirt in his eyes. She leaps over the crate and tackles the soldier. He drops the gun to wrap his hands around Cassie's throat and kicks her in the groin, making the young adventurer cry in pain.

"How does it feel?" He knees her in the groin again. "You girls like hitting guys in the balls and you get off on it." He knees her in the same spot again. "Doesn't feel go when in that position, does it?" He brought his knee up for a fourth kick but underestimated the girl in his grip.

She removed her climbing piton and hit him in the balls with it. He howled in pain and tightened his grip around her throat but was off his game, which allowed her to uppercut him, break her hands from her throat, and Judo flip him over her hip.

BANG!

The soldier was dead when he hit the ground.

Cassie gasped both at the feeling of her air returning to her lungs and at the bullet hole in the soldier's back. She looked up in the sniper's nest and deduced what was happening.

The sniper was aiming for me and he fired just as I threw the soldier over my hit and he shot his comrade by accident.

She quickly dives to hide behind the crate after grabbing the dead soldier's gun. When the crate was standing upright, it was waist-high but when knocked on its back, it was barely knee-high and barely covered her so she had to press her back to the ground.

She heard the next bang of a gunshot and a hole tore through the crate inches from her head. She quickly jumps to her knees and opens fires her assault rifle on the sniper. She doesn't kill him but she gets one in his shoulder, making the sniper wince in pain and drop his rifle to the ground.

Derek finished with the last of the bullets in his magazine on the penultimate soldier before he aimed at the sniper in the tree. He tried pulling the trigger before the gun clicked.

The sniper took out his sidearm, a USP9, and aimed it at Cassie's chest.

"INCOMING!"

A pickup truck plowed through the excavation site and crashed into the sniper's nest.

"Timber!" Cassie shouted as she watched the tree go down, the sniper landing hard on the ground. "Holy crap!" She turned to the pickup truck. "If I was a lumberjack and I didn't have a chainsaw or ax, I'd cut down a tree with a pickup truck too." She pretended to contemplate. "Maybe I should patent that idea."

She ran towards the pickup truck and stopped in her tracks when she saw the Priest step out of the driver's side.

"Father Priest," she gasped, "what are you doing here?"

"Cassie," the Priest began, "I know you well enough to know that every adventure you go on, no matter how mundane it is, always involves being shot at."

Derek stepped out from behind the tree and approached them. "I thought you were a priest and that you opposed violence?"

The Priest turned to Derek. "I do notapproveof violence," he clarified, "not doing anything is no different than murdering someone." He put his hands together. "As a shepherd, it is my job to protect my flock and you and Cassie are my flock."

"Where's Bethany?" Cassie asked.

"At school."

"How did you even find us?"

"I told you about this place, didn't I?"

Cassie smacked herself for not realizing that sooner.

A priest who knows about achurch. She chuckled.Who would've known?

Chapter 13: Ringing Bells

Chapter Text

After the badgering was done, Cassie suddenly remembered that the sniper was on the ground and went to check on him. He had been shot in the shoulder earlier and he broke his other shoulder on the fall down, crying like a wounded animal. He used the arm connected to his bleeding shoulder to reach into his pocket to grab something.

Cassie caught his hand and pulled it away. She reached into his pocket and removed a grenade.

"Nice try." She pocketed it.

The sniper made a wincing sound and his face distorted into something ugly. He began to foam at the mouth.

Cassie panicked and lifted the sniper's head up before pushing him on the side, futile as his life already expired.

"What was that?" the Priest asked.

Cassie opened his mouth and looked in. It was hard to tell with the foam but she could make out something planted in his teeth.

"Cyanide," she answered, "those who are truly devoted to Overlord's cause will commit suicide to prevent spilling secrets."

"What about him?"

Derek pointed to the other soldier Cassie took out earlier, the one she incapacitated by shooting him in the shoulder. She quickly sprints to him, slides down beside him, and pry open his mouth.

He spits in her face and struck at her. She caught his fist with the back of her hand and twisted his fingers.

"We're going to help you," she promised, "tell us what Overlord is doing in a church?"

"None of your business," the wounded soldier spat.

"You committed a sin," the Priest told her, "spitting in young Cassie's face is a sin. You're going to Hell like the sniper who just committed suicide."

"I would gladly go to Hell if it means escaping this godforsaken world." He spat again, missing his target as she was expecting it this time. "Overlord gave me a chance and I have to repay them."

"Overlord is evil," Cassie said, "your ways of doing things are immoral."

The soldier closed his mouth, a faintclickingsound could be heard from his mouth.

"sh*t!"

The soldier spasmed, convulsed, and rolled onto his back, mouth beginning to foam.

"For Overlord," he cried in a hoarse voice before he went limp.

"Holy sh*t," Cassie panicked and backed away, "what the hell was that?"

"Don't worry," the Priest said nonchalantly, "he's going to Hell. Suicide is taboo."

Cassie looked at her friend. "You are ruthless and cold-blooded."

"He chose to kill himself. If he didn't, it wouldn't be called 'suicide' would it?"

"That was a man's life," Cassie rebutted, "he had a family and friends and Overlord brainwashed him into committing suicide!"

Derek turned away from the body, looking at the ground at his feet. "He chose his own way out."

Cassie looked at Derek.

"I'm sorry, Cass, but the truth is that he chose to kill himself. You can't bring somebody back from dead. The supernatural may be a real phenomenon but last time I checked, we are all regular human beings." He looked at her with a glare in his eyes. "Besides, he was shooting at you."

Cassie gasped.

Carla's prediction about Derek becoming cold-blood was true. Son of a bitch was right. Damn it.

Deciding not to argue any further, she picks up ammo for her assault rifle and pistol before holstering them. "Grab weapons and ammo because there could be some in the church."

Derek nodded and went to grab a weapon of his choice.

Cassie had a spare pistol with her and handed it to the Priest, who refused.

"I abhor the use of violence."

Cassie was taken aback by that statement. "What? You just knocked a sniper out of a tree and now you're saying you hate violence?"

"I knocked the tree down but with not the intent to kill him. God, as well as my personal code, forbids me from using a gun."

"It'll be in self-defense."

"I will only kill if God allows me to."

"And how do you know God will permit you to kill?"

"When I ask God for guidance, he will always give me a sign."

Cassie holstered her spare pistol. "Wait here until we deem the inside of the church to be safe."

Cassie and Derek were at the front door of the huge church. They tried to open the door, only to discover that it was barred shut. "Crap," Cassie muttered. "Did Overlord lock it up or was it already locked up?"

"Y'know, there is an open window at the very top of this church." Derek pointed to a busted window at the top. "You're gonna have to monkey up there."

Cassie smiled at the thought. She had always been a skilled and competent climber, almost matching her father's climbing ability, but not quite. She went around the corner to grab a handhold and hoist herself up. "See you inside, D-Man."

Cassie started climbing up. She grabbed a handhold on the wall and pulled herself up. She slammed her foot down on another handhold and began climbing more and more, careful not to dislodge any broken handholds.

She reaches for a window frame a wooden piece breaks under her weight but she grabs onto the next handhold immediately after.

"Was that a sin?" she asked aloud. "Breaking a piece of wood from a church?"

When Cassie was almost at the open window, the handhold she was pulling herself on broke off and she fell. Luckily, she caught another handhold in time.

"Jeez-la-freaking-Louise," Cassie heard Derek exclaim below her.

"Don't worry, I'm okay," she assured. Cassie continued climbing back upwards. When Cassie grabbed the exact same handhold she fell from, her grip slipped but did not fall this time.

"Oh thank Noah," she muttered before climbing into the open window. She heard a loud echo when she landed on a wooden bridge. "A church, more like a temple." She looked over the edge to see the ground a dozen feet down but no Overlord soldiers. She looked up and saw several bells at the top.

She takes out her journal to reread what she wrote about entering the church.

"I fell to the ground and the wooden piece was hidden under rubble." She looks down to check her height before realizing something. "I climbed up the church but in the visions, the church was significantly taller." Her eyes went wide. "The wooden piece is in the lower section under the floor."

She unhooks her grappling rope from her belt loop, ties one end to a platform, and throws the other end outside for Derek and the Priest to climb in.

While she waited, she sketched the church in her journal and muttered something under her breath.

When Derek and the Priest climbed in, she took the grappling hook and hooked it to her belt loop once more. She and Derek walked along the wooden platform until they came across a ladder, which they descended. They stood in the center of the room with several bells in the steeple at the very top and an altar near the wall.

Cassie looked around for a door or hole in the wall to climb through but came up short. The second piece of Noah's Ark was below her in the basem*nt. She took out her journal and flipped to a page that contained a record of every possible combination the dials on the treasure box could make out. Aside from Golden Church, there were no clues to indicate how Goldman got to this place.

Then she realized something.

"How does it feel to be in a church, Father?" Derek asked. "One that's been around since ancient times."

"We broke in," the Priest commented, "but I understand drastic needs to understand religion."

Derek looked at him with a chuckle. "You're probably the loosest priest I have ever come across."

"According to Cassie, the location to Noah's Ark is somewhere in this church." He thought of possible scenarios. "Maybe a map hidden on the wall or something."

Alexander Goldman had the visions as I had,Cassie realized,he tried to find the second piece but he was unable to figure out how to get below, which is why there's no record on how to solve it. Looks like we're on our own.

"Maybe we have to ring some bells that will open a secret passageway," Derek suggested. "Who doesn't like getting their bell rung?"

Cassie's eyes widened. She looked up to the bells in the steeple.

"The bells," she muttered.

"What?" Derek and the Priest asked.

Cassie went back to the ladder and climbed before running up the stairs until she reached the bells.

Derek followed while the Priest stood near the altar, which was covered from top to bottom in the dust. He rubbed some dust away and found a religious symbol. The Star of David.

Cassie made it up to the bells and studied them with glee.

"Holy crap!" Derek gasped.

"What?"

He pointed to the inside of the bells.

She looked inside the bell on her left and found the Star of David symbol carved on the very edge of the bell.

"Father!" Cassie called out, "There's the Star of David carved inside this bell." She checked the other three bells. "And other symbols as well."

The Priest checked the altar for Star of David symbols and went wide-eyed when he spotted four symbols carved on the bottom of the altar. The symbols were from left to right, the Star of David, and the Crucifix, with the Star and Crescent and the Yin and Yang overlapping.

"Same down here!" he exclaimed before telling them the symbols.

"Why would there be various symbols from religions unrelated to Christianity?" Derek questioned. "Unless..."

"This church was built by human hands and other religions were forming by the time this church was built," Cassie answered. "Either way, someone set these bells up for a reason."

"This better not be a wild goose chase."

"It's not," Cassie hesitated, "I'm sure of it."

Derek noticed the bells weren't hooked up so they didn't ring on a timer.

"Maybe we ring the bell in a certain order," Derek thought off the top of his head.

Cassie told the Priest to repeat the symbols in the order he was seeing.

Once Cassie got the order correct, she crouched to look at the symbols and clappers in each bell.

She checked the patterns and noticed that they were not in the order the Priest recited.

That's when the final clue hit her.

I have to ring the bells in the order on the altar.

She reaches out, stretching her arm to the limit to grab the clapper. Derek grabs her by her henley and slowly lowers her. Once she grabs the clapper she pulls it back before letting go to quickly cover her ears.

The sounds of the bells ringing nearly deafened her and Derek yelled and fought through the pain to prevent Cassie from falling over the edge.

Down below, the Priest covered his ears and winced. Once his hearing returned, he called out, "What bell did you ring?"

"Star of David!" Cassie shouted.

The Priest looked down at the altar. "The next symbol is the crucifix!"

"Thank you!"

Derek pulled her up before slowly lowering her so she could reach out.

"If you want, I can ring the-"

Cassie rings the crucifix bell.

"YAAGH!" Derek pulled her back so he could cover his ears, which felt like they were being stabbed at with a thumbtack. "A real classic, Cassie: Shutting me up my ringing a bell."

"Better I ring that bell than yours."

"HAHA!"

"The next set is a little complicated," the Priest warns, "the symbols overlap with each other."

"Overlap?" Cassie and Derek repeated.

"Ring bells at the same time?" Derek inquired.

Cassie shrugged. "I guess so."

"I can reach out and grab the clapper but you.."

"I know, I'm five-nine and you're six-one, I get it." She takes out her grappling hook and ties it around a beam before tying the end around her waist.

"Very resourceful," Derek praised.

"A Drake is nothing if not adaptable."

Derek reached out, barely tipping over the edge, and grabbed the clapper to the Yin and Yang bell. Cassie reached out and grabbed the bell with the Star and Crescent.

"No wonder they overlap," Derek observed, "they have two symbols while the Star of David and Crucifix were both a single symbol."

"Sharp eye. On three, we pull okay?"

"Wait, one, two, three, pull, or one, two pull?" Derek asked, smiling.

"One, two, pull," Cassie answered.

"Okay."

They counted. "One, two pull!"

They pulled the clappers and raced back to the edge and covered their ears. The bells rang louder than the other two bells combined and shook the wooden structure they were standing on with vibration.

The wooden broke off and sent Cassie falling. The young woman took out her climbing piton, stabbed it into another beam, and stopped herself.

"Holy crap." Derek pulled her back on solid, wobbly ground. "You caught yourself before you fell two feet."

She patted him enthusiastically on the back. "Told you: I'm immortal."

Derek laughed like a giddy schoolboy. "And they say the Philosopher's Stone grants immortality."

"We should put ourselves on display as the immortal treasure hunters. People'll pay to see us!"

"But who is going to get the money?"

"Our parents, then they can hand the money to us!"

"Fifty-fifty."

"Eh, I was thinking forty-forty."

"What of the rest of the twenty?"

"I figured we'd spend it on our next adventure."

They both laughed and patted each other's shoulders.

When they finished the pattern, there was a small click that sounded like it came from underneath the altar. The Priest pushed the altar back a few inches and discovered a hole.

"Hey Cass, there's something underneath the altar. Come down here." The Priest waited for Cassie and Derek to climb down before he stepped out of the way to show the hole.

They pushed the altar back all the way to see a pentagonal hole leading into darkness.

"Ladies first," Derek nodded.

"After you Joseph," Cassie insisted.

"If that's what you want, Mary," Derek said before jumping in.

"Age before beauty and the Virgin Mary is a beautiful woman."

The Priest cringed.

Cassie turned to the Priest. "Stay here in case we need you."

"Got it," the Priest responded without hesitation. "No problem."

Cassie and Derek repelled down into the hole into a room of pitch darkness with the only light coming from the hole above them. Luckily they came prepared.

They took out their angle head flashlights and shined them around the room, which was a basem*nt room covered in dust and rubble, no dectorations or frames.

"So..." Derek began, "what are we looking for? Paintings? Inscriptions? Bath toys that look like Noah's Ark?"

Cassie chuckled. "No. I don't know what to look for but I'm sure we'll find it."

She thought back to her visions.

"Search the walls for anything out of the ordinary."

"Meaning..."

"Something unusual. You have a sharp eye so you should be able to spot anything unusual on the walls."

"Like that?" He shined his light on the wall.

Cassie looked and spotted a familiar making.

The mark Hallucination Derek left on the wall.

She turns off her flashlight, runs over to the wall, and towers over the rubble underneath the mark. She moves the rubble out of the way, clawing her way through like a dog.

"What are you..."

Cassie stopped her digging after throwing a brick out of the way and stared in amazement.

The second piece of Noah's Ark lying in the rubble right before her eyes.

Oh my god...she mentally gasped.The visions are true...

No words could leave her mouth as she gingerly picked up the wooden piece and held it close to her chest, cradling it like a baby.

Show me where Noah's Ark is.

Chapter 14: God's Mercy

Chapter Text

"Are you okay?" Derek inquired upon seeing Cassie go silent and stiff. "Is something wrong?"

Cassie stood up to her full height and turned to face Derek with lifeless eyes.

"Cassie?" He could feel the heart pounding in his chest as she stared. She was staring at him but not staringat him.

He could feel the fear and trepidation rising in his throat like a wine bottle about to burst and-

"Let me use your back."

Derek blinked rapidly for a few seconds before gulping, "What?"

"Let me use your back, big guy." Cassie took out her pocket-sized journal and walked up to Derek, the life returning in her eyes.

"I'm notthatbig, only six-foot-one." Derek's apprehension suddenly vanished like a fire doused in water when she called him 'big guy' and turned his back to her. After she pocketed the wooden piece, Cassie took out a map of Mount Ararat she folded away in her journal and placed the map on his shoulder.

The visions showed me where Noah's Ark is,she thought.If I go by the visions then that means...

She draws a circle with a cross in the center with three lines dragged across the center horizontally at the top of the mountain near the peak.

"The entrance to Noah's Ark is right here," she declared loudly. The moment she realized where she had drawn the circle, she gasped in astonishment and backed away from Derek with a big grin on her face. "I found the entrance to Noah's Ark!" she exclaimed happily.

Derek turned. "What?"

"I found the entrance to Noah's Ark." She flipped the map around to show him. "The way inside Noah's Ark is just below this peak on Mount Ararat."

"Okay, that's not possible and you know it."

Cassie shook her head. "It's true."

"How?"

Am I prepared to tell Derek about being hypnotized by Noah? Will he believe me?

"I'll tell you as soon as we get back."

Derek eyed her suspiciously. "Until you tell mehowyou found the entrance to Noah's Ark, I'm going to pretend to be ecstatic."

"Thank you."

Derek tilted his head when he noticed something on the map.That symbol with the three lines... what does it mean?

Derek gripped the map and looked over it, pretend surrealism setting in like a knife. He smiles and puts a hand to his heart.

I forgot how much fun this was with you, Cassie.

Derek scratched the back of his head, fingers digging into the curls of his brown hair, avoiding eye contact with Cassie. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"I'm sorry for insulting you back at school.'

Cassie shook her head. "You're human and you have every right to vent."

"But I think I crossed a line."

She cupped his cheek. "Tell me what's going on with you, D-Man. Talk to me." She practically begged.

Derek looked away from her in shame before saying, "As soon as we get out of here, I'll tell you everything that I'm feeling. To make it even for somehow knowing where Noah's Ark is all of a sudden."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"You promise on cousin Niko's life?"

"I promise on cousin Niko's life."

"You promise on your ex-girlfriend's life?"

"I promise on my ex-girlfriend's life."

She held up her hand. "You pinky promise."

He chuckled. "Pinky promise."

They shook pinkies.

"Y'know, it is just us here, how about we have fun," Cassie suggested. "We found Noah's Ark's location. We can entertain each other you know." She smiled mischievously.

Derek gave a mischievous smirk but it disappeared when she saw her turn around and sweep hair that dropped to her neck. "Massage," she insisted.

Derek chuckled and began giving Cassie a good back rub.

I was blessed with my mother's hands,Derek thought.

The three checked to make sure the coast was clear before they unbarred the front doors to get out of the church.

Aside from the eleven dead Overlord soldiers on the ground, nothing seemed to change. But Cassie spotted trees and bushes moving. When she licked her tongue and checked the window, she found none.

There's no wind out, which means...

Her realization turned into horror when a gunshot went off and she felt a bullet fly past her head, missing her by inches.

She dived for cover behind a crate and took out her gun from her holster while Derek and the Priest went for the pickup truck. She heard Derek tell the Priest to get down as he co*cked a Beretta 92FS he picked up from a dead soldier, which reminded her to take out her AK-47.

Multiple gunshots rang out in rapid succession, firing in all directions at her but not a single bullet hit. Cassie took a peek and saw several men with guns in their hands aiming at the cars and firing. Cassie waited for them to reload before she would jump out and shoot rained hell on them with bullets.

She counted at least eight men and she already killed two of them. Derek blind fired and shot one man in the temple when his back was turned.

"Who are these guys?" Cassie asked herself. She looked over to one of the bodies and saw him dressed in civilian garb. "Not Overlord."

Before Derek could fire again, he was tackled from behind and landed facefirst into the hood of the pickup truck. Derek turned and blocked the incoming punch and hit his attacker in the gut with his fist.

Cassie aims at Derek's attacker and hits him in the head.

Cassie was nearly ambushed from behind by an attacker with a shotgun but apparently, the kick of the shotgun had thrown him off his aim and sent the pellets flying over Cassie's head. She spun around and fired at him. The bullets lodged into the shotgun attacker's chest and guts, dropping him backward and accidentally discharging his gun. It went off but the bullets disappeared into the sky.

"Overkill," Cassie muttered. She got to her feet and saw more assassins coming their way. "Derek, we got to go,"

The next attacker to sneak up on the duo aimed his gun for the back of Cassie's head before the gun was kicked out of his hand. He turned to his attacker and was surprised to see a man he recognized.

"You," he growled.

The Priest nodded. "What about me?"

"You're with them!"

The attacker throws a punch at the Priest, who dodges it with ease.

"Missed."

The attacker throws another punch.

"Miss."

The attacker delivers an uppercut.

"Is that the best you can do?"

The attacker charges for the Priest, who grabs him by the waist and flips him over his hip.

"Let's not do this," the Priest begged.

The attacker got back on his feet and charged, only to be tripped on the ground once more.

The attacker laughed. "You've obviously got some skills. What do you practice? Aikido, Judo?"

"Christianity," the Priest deadpanned.

Before the attacker could charge once more, Derek picked up a fallen branch from the tree that was knocked down earlier and smashed it into the attacker's skull, incapacitating him before pulling the Priest to cover behind the pickup truck.

"I thought you were against violence?" Derek questioned.

The Priest shook his head. "Just because I abhor violence doesn't mean I'm going to endure it like some hardcore fanatic devout. I love my body and want to make sure it stays in good shape."

"Ah, you're not the kind of priest to turn his cheek, you grab the hand before it slaps your cheek."

The Priest nodded. "Glad you understand."

Cassie finished off the last two attackers before she quickly gathered ammo on the ground and jumped in the back of the pickup truck. "Let's get out of here!"

Derek went for the driver's seat while the Priest rode shotgun. Cassie urged them to go quickly as reinforcements were coming out of the trees.

Derek stomps on the gas and drives off, narrowly avoiding crashing into the church as he makes a U-turn and drives off into the woods. The reinforcement Cassie spotted earlier was coming out of the treeline and stepped into the path of the truck. Instead of turning or stopping, he plowed through them.

One of the attackers landed on the top of the truck. Cassie grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him off the moving vehicle.

"No tickets, no rides!"

Five cars with five people inside each and one pickup truck with two attackers in the back chased after them

"I love the smell of car chases in the afternoon," Cassie laughed dryly.

She fired several shots at the closest car and hit the grille. She squeezed off several more rounds and the grille lit up in flames. She reloaded her gun and when she raised it again and prepared to fire, the grille blew up and covered the windows in fire, blocking the driver's view and causing him to swerve into a tree.

When Derek heard the explosion, he switched gears and accelerated before making a sharp turn to the left to avoid hitting that marketplace from earlier.

We'll have to leave our jeep behind,Derek thought,and we don't have any car insurance!

Derek ducked down when a bullet almost grazed his head but instead, it shot the rearview mirror. He risked a glance back before making a sharp turn to the right through an alley.

The cars continued but only one could go at a time, which was good. Cassie fired a full magazine of bullets from her AK-47 and into the grille. Flames ignited from the grill and caused the vehicle to crash into the side with two cars piling up on top of it, both cars catching fire and burning before the occupants could get out.

Derek drove out of the alley and onto an open road. But the road was filled with traffic and he had no time to abide by the rules because the cars had somehow found a way through the alley and were hot on their tails.

"Seatbelts save lives," Derek muttered before putting on his seatbelt and reminding the Priest to put his own

"I'm down to only one magazine left," Cassie shouted. She shot at the remaining vehicles, making every bullet count. Cassie felt her ear pop when Derek made a turn and they were on the highway. They kept going up and Cassie already felt dizzy. She shrugged it off and aimed at the nearest car's front tire. She fired and the tire blew out. The car swerved to the left and went flying off the overpass and plummeting sixty feet to the ground.

When they started descending, the people in the pickup truck started firing again. Cassie kept his head down and fired two more bullets, but they both missed their desired target. Cassie felt his heart drop to his stomach when one of the attackers in the pickup shot at them and blew out one of their vehicle's tires.

Derek struggled to keep them from crashing but that was easier said than done. He slammed her foot on the brake and the jeep's tire skidded against the street. He tried to make a hard right when he realized they were going to crash into a gas station but it was too late.

The vehicle crashed into the wall, making Derek and the Priest jerk their heads forward into the airbags.

Cassie was about to go flying but she was sitting with her back to the window when they crashed but her head still hit the window. A few seconds after the vehicle crashed, Cassie looked up and felt blood trickle down the back of her forehead.

"Glad my brain didn't fall out of my head."

She aimed her gun at the hostile pickup truck and was about to open fire when she realized that they crashed into the store a gas station and there were people around pouring gas into their cars. She didn't want to risk blowing anyone up on accident so she tried crawling out of the vehicle.

Derek and the Priest climbed out of the crashed vehicle, both making eye contact with their enemies, who also stepped out of their vehicles.

The Priest recognized one of them.

"Tariq?!"

The man steps out of the passenger seat with a young man with a mustache behind him.

"Father Sadik," Tariq bowed, "how have you been holding up?"

"Good until you showed up. You being in my presence, or anyone's presence for that matter should be a sin."

"Likewise," Tariq nodded. "But I'm not here for you."

The young man behind him aimed his rifle.

"We're here for her, Cassie Drake."

Cassie aimed her gun at the young man.

"Did you shoot at me because you recognized me as Cassie Drake? Why I'm flattered."

"Noah's Ark," Tariq hissed.

The other gunmen drew their rifles.

"Yeah, what about it? Can't afford to take a luxurious cruise and decide that Noah's Ark might do well for your bankrupt ass?"

"Shut up," he hissed-yelled. He looked at Derek. "Or I'll make your friend suffer."

Derek hid a gun behind his back as he pointed at himself. "Me, I'm not her friend. I'm just an Uber driver who was along for the ride."

"How stupid do you think I am?"

"Very."

Cassie laughed.

"Why are you doing this?" Cassie demanded. "If you wanted to play a game of paintball, all you had to do was ask."

"Noah's Ark," the Priest stated, "he's after us because of Noah's Ark."

"Yes," Tariq confirmed. "Father Sadik here gets it."

The young gunmen looked around to see civilians staring at them. One of them got out their phones and called the cops while others filmed them.

"We're exposed," the young gunmen urged, "and we're not wearing masks."

"I'm aware of that, Arda, but the message we're sending is important."

Overlord promised to protect Tariq if he wasimprisoned, Arda thought,I'll hold them to their word.

"How?" Derek suddenly asked after realizing something absurd. "How is finding Noah's Ark worth killing anyone over? Do you have any sense at all?"

"No," the Priest said, "he has no sense at all."

"It is too early," Tariq answered, "Noah's Ark can only be revealed on Judgment Day. We can't let it be revealed before."

Cassie sighed.He's one of those.

"How did you know about us?" Eventually, the answer came to her.

I discover Overlord is digging around for something and then these religious nutjobs start shooting at me just after I took out one of their excavation crews all of a sudden? Overlord tipped them off.

"Overlord," Cassie sighed through her teeth. "They told you that we were looking for Noah's Ark or something?"

Wait a second, something doesn't feel right. Knowing that these guys are pawns of Overlord leaves more questions than answers. What is going on here? What the hell is going on here? Are these guys working for Overlord? What is Overlord looking for? How does Overlord know we're looking for Noah's Ark?

"Smart girl," Tariq praised, "I expected nothing more. I would say I almost feel bad for you but that would be a lie."

"Aww, bad guys rarely say that to me.."

"I'm not the bad guy, you are."

"You're the one aiming a gun at me."

"Ditto."

Cassie looked at her gun. "Touché."

"You don't have to do this, Tariq," the Priest begged, "we can all put our guns down and walk away."

"So you can go look for Noah's Ark when our backs are turned? No, you're all going to die. All of you. Especially you, Drake."

Cassie tilted her head like a puppy.

"People like you areevil.PURE evil. You care nothing about the people you hurt, only interested in whatever it is you're interested in. I've hated you from the moment I saw your face and I've been waiting for this day for twenty-five years!"

Cassie had a bunch of retorts to throw at the man but the only sentence her mind could produce was: "What the hell are you talking about? I'm twenty-four!"

"Same," Derek said offhandedly.

"Thirty," the Priest chimed in.

Tariq looked taken aback and slapped himself in the face. "My mistake."

Arda looked at the back of Tariq's head with narrowed eyes.

She's not the same person you fool,the young gunman thougt.

"Enough bantering," Tariq decided. "Shoot them-"

An SUV plowed into the enemy pickup truck and sent it sliding, crushing the gunmen on the other side of the truck.

Tariq and Arda were caught in the SUV's path but they jumped on the hood and quickly climbed onto the roof. As the SUV plowed the pickup truck into an empty semi, Tariq and Arda jumped off the moving vehicle and ran off into the streets. They were sprayed by a hail of gunfire coming from inside the truck but managed to remain unhit.

As they were leaving, Arda turned on his heels, drawing his pistol, and fired at the SUV's tires with one bullet each before turning and running off.

Cassie pressed her back to the wall and gasped in shock at the scene before her.

"Holy sh*t!" she cried, "what the crapping hell was that?"

"God," the Priest decided, "decided to show mercy and spare us."

"Sorry, Father, but I don't believe in God."

Derek knew that familiar voice from anywhere.

The driver's side door opened and a tall man with dirty blonde curls stepped out.

"Tyler."

The man in the passenger seat climbed out through the window and ran a hand through the locks in his red hair.

"Alec."

Tyler laughed and clapped his hands together. "You paid us to protect you and we will fulfill that bargain. We are veterans. Respect your vets."

"I couldn't help but notice that you killed a hell of a lot of guys," Alec pointed out, "you didn't save any for me."

"How did you guys find us?"

"We were driving home from a bar when we heard gunshots," Alec answered, "we thought something exciting was going to happen so we drove to see the show. When we got here, we saw the guy from the bar that was serving us aiming guns at you."

"I've never run over a person before," Tyler pointed out.

"Lucky," Alec scoffed.

The Priest turned away.

So, this is the backup that Cassie and Derek told me about. I hope to God they find their way back on the path.

"Thank you," Cassie said to Tyler specifically.

I haven't forgotten what you tried to do on the plane, Alec.

Tyler saw the Priest and nodded at him. "Who's the male nun?"

"This is Yagmur Sadik," Cassie introduced, "and he's a priest."

Yagmur Sadik,Tyler narrowed his eyes.Where have I heard that name before?

Tyler's eyes went wide as he suddenly remembered something. "Pastor guy, I think your daughter has been kidnapped."

The Priest hoped he didn't hear what he thought he heard. "What?"

"On the way here, we were listening on the radio and some kids said they saw a girl get abducted from a school. A bulletin was put out, saying her name was Belinay Sadik and her closest guardian was Yagmur Sadik. I don't know if she's some girl with the same last name as yours but-"

"That's my niece!" The Priest's voice cracked as he panicked. "She's been kidnapped?"

"Hours ago from school."

The Priest stumbled back and put a hand to his heart.

Bethany,he mentally cried,no.

"We'll find her," Cassie stated firmly, "we'll save her."

The Priest clutched at his heart area like he was having a heart attack and steadied himself against the pickup truck.

Whoever kidnapped my niece, may God have mercy on your soul because I'm coming for you.

Chapter 15: We're Here

Chapter Text

Several minutes passed after Tyler and Alec broke the news. Cassie and Derek gasped silently before looking over at the Priest, who was bending over forward with a hand on his chest, clutching his heart. He made a fist with his other hand before looking up with a sneer on his face.

"I'll kill them all," he declared, "EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!"

Cassie and Derek flinch at the Priest's words, taken aback by this part of his personality they never knew existed.

Cassie turned to Tyler and asked, "Who abducted her? Was it Overlord?"

Tyler furrowed his brows. "Overlord?"

Alec shook his head before saying, "Never heard of them." He looked up to his left. "Sounds familiar though."

"Who abducted her?!" Cassie repeated.

"I don't know," Tyler answered. "They didn't give a name out so we don't know the identities of the kidnappers."

"Then how are we to find her?"

The Priest's visible glare softened as he remembered something. "I can find her."

Cassie looked at the Priest. "How?"

"I have a GPS tracker on her." He pulled out his phone.

"What?"

"Bethany has a GPS implanted in the back of her shoulder." He searches for a GPS tracking app.

"You put a GPS tracker in your niece's shoulder?" Cassie shook her head disapprovingly. "I would argue why you shouldn't chip kids like dogs but-"

"Ididn't chip her, her parents did." He typed in something. "They told me the barcode in case something like this happened."

Cassie shook her head and put her face in her hands. "I don't care about the moral ethics about chipping a human being as long as we find Bethany."

The Priest waits for the GPS tracker to locate his niece.

Brother, you and your wife were involved in some illicit trading,the Priest thought.You chipped your daughter in case any of your enemies abducted her. You weren't good people but you were looking after your daughter.

The GPS locates Bethany's current position.

I am proud of you, brother.

The Priest reads over the coordinates presented to him. "I know where she is."

Tyler turned to the vehicle. "Hop in and I'll call the rest of the guys."

The Priest didn't hesitate as he climbed into the backseat and guided the ex-soldiers carefully to their destination.

Warehouse

It wasn't supposed to be like this...

When Bethany came too, she couldn't see. Her first thought was that she was blinded but when she calmed herself down, she realized she had a burlap sack of her head and she was dangling several feet above the ground from a hook. She shook her body, kicking her feet out to feel for the wall but felt nothing. She tried crying before tasting fabric materials jammed into her mouth. She had been gagged and cried for help was muffled by the washcloth.

No, I don't want to die!

The thought of dying suddenly made her body feel heavy. She kicked her feet out without the care of alerting anybody in the room. She was too preoccupied to care about her current location and kept kicking her feet out, hoping that it would do something to free her.

I can't die, not right here!

She heard from her parents that when people are on the edge of death, they see their life flash before her eyes. She experienced this moment a short while ago and was prepared for it this time.

Uncle will save me, just like last time.

She heard the unmistakable sounds of the door opening and she went limp, hoping to feign unconsciousness.

"I know that you are awake," a deep voice spoke.

Bethany nearly flinched but kept her composure, even if it meant feeling like her heart had clogged up her throat like a toilet.

"But I guess it doesn't matter," the voice continued. "I'm going to hurt you regardless." He took something out and ground it against the wall, sending sparks flying. "I'm going to gut you open like a fish."

Bethany nearly flinched. She knew that the man knew that she was awake but she didn't want to risk it.

"It's nothing personal, I promise. Even if you were a boy, I still would've abducted you. Your uncle, Father Yagmur, is going to be in for one hell of a treat." He sharpens his knife by rubbing it against another knife. "I'm going to cut you open and pull your intestines out like pulling a baby out of a pregnant woman's stomach, all in due time. When your uncle gets here and by god, Iknowhe will get here, I can't wait to torture him."

He took the lord's name in vain,Bethany instinctively thought.

"I just came in here to get one of my knives back; didn't want you jumping off that hook and freeing yourself before Father Uncle Yagmur arrived." He moved towards her, evident by the footsteps stomping towards her, getting louder and closer. "Just know that everything I am about to you is not out of malicious glee or sadism, just rage." He laughs. "I'm not mad at you as you specifically but you are one of one hundred outlets for me to take my anger outon."

"I'll see you in due time, Bethany Sadik."

He turned and left the room, leaving Bethany to pretend to play dead for a few more minutes.

Once she was sure he was gone and not coming back, she let her shoulders relax and started to sob. She bit down into the washcloth to not draw attention but nothing could be done to get her down from her dangling post.

Please save me, uncle.

Turns out when you have a best friend whose mother was best friends with ex-soldiers turned mercenaries, you could save a lot of time going to the gun store when you use the guns they brought with them.

Cassie finished plugging the last bullet into her magazine before slapping it into her M4 carbine and co*cking it. She put on a gun belt and filled the pouches with ammo. She checked to make sure her grappling hook and climbing piton were in place. Once she was done evaluating her arms, she took out her pocket-sized notebook and wrote something in it.

She looked up at the Priest, who was sitting in the seat beside her. She looked over her shoulder to see several more SUVs following, each one filled with the former teammates of Derek's veteran mother.

The sun had gone down, which would keep them out of sight and give them a stealth advantage. As Cassie held her M4 carbine to her chest like a mother cradling a baby, she turned to the priest.

"What were Bethany's parents like to chip her?" she suddenly asked. "Did they chip her when she was a child or was this recent before they died?"

The Priest said nothing and kept looking down at the GPS. "Four miles," he counted quietly, "we're almost there."

He looked at her, acknowledging her by answering her question. "Recent," he sighed, "said it was necessary for their line of work."

Cassie furrowed her eyes. "What kind of line of work requires them to chip their own daughter?"

The Priest went silent.

Cassie held her hands up. "You know what, it is none of my business-"

"My brother is Bethany's father," he interrupted as he stared down at the GPS. "Me and my brother grew up as religious people. We went to church every Sunday, prayed every night before we went to bed, started reading the bible and memorizing every little detail we could."

In the passenger seat, Derek looked in the rearview mirror at the Priest.

"My brother told me he was caught up in debt with creditors from banks and loan sharks and..." he trailed off as if he choked on remembering something. "His salary wasn't going to make these debts and he became desperate. I told him that God will find a way but he told me that God never helped him and won't help him now." He gulps. "He met this one girl, my future sister-in-law, who was rich with money at the cost of being involved on the black market. I told them it was wrong and that people were going to get hurt because of them but they... they didn't listen, saying that if God isn't going to help them then they'll help themselves."

Bethany's parents were involved in the black market?Cassie asked herself.I've had my fair share of black market traffickers.

"Ali and Ela were selling firearms on the black market and making money to pay off their debts. They would continue to do so, even after my niece was born. Unfortunately, they never took into account where their suppliers have been getting their weapons from so they were attacked by a gang of lunatics who nearly killed them that night to get their guns back. Belinay was almost kidnapped in the attempt but they got her back and they chipped her, claiming that it was because they didn't want their daughter to be held ransom but I suspect because they couldn't bear to lose her twice."

"Despite their illicit deals, her parentsdidlove her," Cassie reminded.

"The last time I saw little brother Ali was when he told me the barcode for the chip implant and to take care of her." He could feel the tears building up and used every ounce of willpower he had to prevent them from dribbling down his cheeks. "Two days later, I pick up the newspaper and there was an article about a gang war and there were two bodies. They left their names out but I knew who they were. I knew who those charred corpses were. I-" he choked on the last word with a sob. "I-"

Cassie put a hand on the Priest's shoulder. "You don't have to say anymore. Wearegoing to get Bethany back."

"And kill everyone who kidnapped her," Derek hissed.

Alec, sitting in the back, laughed hysterically at Derek's comment.

Tyler, who was driving, patted Derek on the shoulder. "You promised us people to shoot at and it looks like you're delivering." He looked at the Priest in the rearview mirror. "We're going to get your niece back church guy, ex-Navy SEALs honor."

The Priest nodded and thanked them in his head.

After a few minutes of driving, they pulled up to a spot where the GPS said they have arrived. The destination was a pier with a warehouse at the end and what looked like a runway planted on the front. The drivers and passengers looked both ways to see the runway deserted of any aircraft and a lack of sign of anyone within the warehouse. They shut their headlights off and parked their cars in the trees a good safe distance away.

They co*cked their guns and hid in the trees as they came up with a plan.

Tyler and Alec had the highest ranks of the ex-soldiers and the most experience so they came up with a strategy and told the others. Once three soldiers used thermal vision to scope out the place, they deemed it clear and allowed the first team to approach by crawling on their stomachs across the runway.

Once they reach the warehouse, they scout the building out for a window and find a balcony. Cassie used her climbing skills to scale up the wall and take a peek inside.

The interior of the warehouse had excavation equipment like forklifts and tractors and a second floor made of wood. The window was opened slightly so she crawled through and scouted out the place once more. It was dark inside and there was plenty of open space inside the building so she watched for signs of an ambush.

Unbeknownst to her, she stepped on a bug-sized device that was sending out a signal.

"Tariq, I know where Cassie Drake is."

"Who the hell is this?"

"She's at the warehouse down at the pier. You know the place."

"Who is this?!"

"Commander Uzun, I know where Cassie Drake is."

"State your name, soldier."

"She's at the warehouse down at the pier. You know the place."

"Who the hell is this? How did you hack into a secured channel?!"

Cassie switched to night vision as she pulled her grappling hook and reeled it down for the others. She leaps off the balcony and lands on top of an oil drum before jumping down. She scans her environment before she spots a door at the other side of the warehouse hiding behind several crates. She moves in, not waiting for Derek, Tyler, or Alec, and pushes open the door.

They found Bethany dangling from ropes tied around a meat hook.

"P-please..." a soft voice whimpered, "p-p-please."

Cassie gasped and turned on the light, finding the switch located beside her.

"No!" Bethany kicked and screamed. "NO!"

"Bethany, it's me!" Cassie shouted. "It's me, Cassie!"

"Cassie!" Bethany sobbed. "CASSIE! Where's uncle?"

"He's outside." She holsters her assault rifle and rushes to the thirteen-year-old's side. "I'm getting you out of here."

Alec stayed above the balcony while Derek and Tyler covered the door along with two other soldiers.

Cassie helped Bethany down from the meat hook and undid the ropes around her wrist. She removed the mask to stare into the eyes of a girl who looked like she cried her life out. Bethany crashes into Cassie's waist with her arms wrapped around her hips. Cassie patted the back of Bethany's head, running her hands soothingly through the little girl's hair and whispering that everything will be alright.

"Where's uncle?" Bethany sobbed. "I want to see uncle."

"He's outside; I'm going to take you to meet him."

Cassie wondered who stole Bethany.

Who had the galls to kidnap a thirteen-year-old from school? Was it Overlord or was it those other guys?

She decided to ask Bethanyafterthey made it to safety.

As Cassie took her first step out the door, she heard the unmistakable sounds of gunfire outside. Bethany cringed and tucked herself deeper into Cassie's lower abdomen.

Should've known it wasn't going to be easy. At least we got reinforcements this time.

Cassie unholstered her M4 carbine and held it with one hand, aiming towards the large warehouse gate, making sure the safety was off as she mentally prepared herself for war.

Chapter 16: Take Point

Chapter Text

Cassie looked up and saw the Priest being escorted into the building by another soldier and climbing down from the second floor. Upon seeing his niece, his shoulders softened as Bethany ran up to her uncle.

The Priest picked up his niece as he made contact and hugged her tightly to her chest, tears running down his face.

"I'm sorry," Bethany sobbed into her uncle's shoulders.

"It's not your fault," the priest told, "there's nothing you could've done."

"I could've kicked him in the nuts," Bethany protested. "I could've hurt him to escape. I wanted to bite him in the nose but I didn't want to hurt him like that one boy I hurt."

The Priest felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach, his legs feeling like they could splinter at any moment, and a dam of tears so big it was about to burst like a water balloon.

I told Belinay never to initiate violence,he cried in his head,and I lied about him having a fracture.

The Priest put Bethany down before stumbling away to fall to his knees and land on his side, sobbing.

Bethany sat down next to her uncle's side and rubbed a hand through his hair. "Uncle, please don't cry. It's not your fault."

"I lied to you Bethany," he cried, "I guilted you into not fighting back and you ended up kidnapped."

"Uncle, Ichosenot to fight back because God wouldn't want me to hurt someone, not because of the boy." She cried into her uncle's shoulder once more. "God said to turn the other cheek, not slap it."

I can't protect Bethany,the priest wept in his head.I am worse than her parents could ever be.

Tyler jumped down from the second floor and ran up to the two religious people's sides. "We're in war; no time for emotions!"

Bethany moved to the side to help Cassie lift the priest up to his feet.

"Secure the VIPs first," Tyler told Alec.

"Roger that," Derek said.

The gunshots outside were getting louder and more erratic.

The soldiers outside the warehouse opened fire on the pickup trucks that pulled up. They riddled each truck with every bullet they could manage and could only hope that one of those bullets would pierce through the metal and hit the attackers hiding behind.

There was a soldier on the battlefield named Blake, who was scouting out his targets using thermal imaging while his partner, Massey, was using night vision. Experience from back in Afghanistan when they were firing at Taliban took over their bodies almost instinctively and shot at the enemies.

Blake and Massey hid behind the warehouse and took their time reloading before firing blindly from behind cover.

A third soldier ran up to meet Blake and Massey as he clutched his bleeding shoulder and pressed his back to the wall. "I'm bleeding," he deadpanned, "ouch."

"Massey, dress that wound," Blake ordered. "I'll cover you."

"Roger that."

Just as Massey turned around to meet the wounded soldier, a hooded man with a knife slit the soldier's throat from behind. He swung the knife at Massey before he was shoved to the ground by Cassie, who found another way out of the warehouse with Bethany and the Priest behind. The hooded man swung the knife at Cassie, who blocked a punch with her forearm and kneed the hooded villain in the stomach. She saw the knife almost striking her left cheek and she punched the villain in the nose.

Cassie pushed the villain back and knocked the knife out of his hand and to the side. The soldier stumbled back into Massey, who finished him off with a headshot.

"We got to get out of here," Cassie told Massey.

"No sh*t, Drake."

Blake pointed at the SUVs on the other end of the field. "Massey, we're escorting the civilians to the SUVs, ASAP. Take point!"

"Roger that." Massey grabbed Cassie's shoulder. "Let's get out of here."

Massey took point and provided covering fire at the hostiles as he and Blake led Cassie, Bethany, and the Priest to the SUVs. The Priest kept Bethany safe by keeping her behind him and keeping his head down.

Cassie felt a stinging pain in her right abdomen and collapsed to the ground. Another villain had struck her in her stomach with a pair of brass knuckles after sneaking up behind her. Just as the villain with the brass knuckles was about to finish Cassie, he was shoved. The Priest shoved the man back before flipping him over his waist and snatching the brass knuckles from his hand.

Blake turned around and shot the brass knuckles thug, splattering blood on the Priest's clothes.

Cassie tried her hardest to ignore the intense pain in her stomach and proceeded to get up to her feet and keep on moving with the group, getting closer to the SUV with every step.

Cassie looked over her shoulder and saw two more hooded men hiding behind a 4x4 jeep and opening fire on them.

The Priest shielded Bethany's eyes with his hand. "Don't look, Belinay!"

Cassie took out her M4 carbine and shot at the thugs before they had a chance. They both took cover behind the jeep so she kept on suppressing fire at them. They shot blindly over the hood and nearly hit her in the head. She grabs the Priest and Bethany and yanks them with her.

After intense gunfighting, the two hooded men threw caution to the wind and jumped up from behind cover. Cassie killed both of them without blinking an eye.

Another 4x4 rolled up with four more villains jumping out. One of them had a rocket launcher.

Where do these guys get this stuff?Cassie exclaimed.

When Cassie ran dry on the bullets in her assault rifle, she pulled out her pistol and quickly shot at the rocket launcher thug and aimed at the one standing beside him.

Blake turned around and blasted the other two thugs before returning fire in front of him.

Cassie looked over and sighed in exasperation when she realized the SUVs were still a walk away.

"We're not going to make it," she yelled.

"Take cover behind the jeep!" Blake ordered.

"Let's use the rocket launcher on them!" Massey suggested.

The five of them took cover behind the jeep and continued their spray of bullets on the surrounding forces.

Cassie watched a bullet ricochet off the jeep. "I hope these guys have insurance because no one's going to rent a jeep in this condition."

Back in the warehouse, Tyler and Alec stayed behind to provide cover fire from the windows on the second floor. One of the soldiers with them was a sharpshooter and he was blushing like a schoolboy with a crush on his teacher with how many people he was sniping. He came prepared as he equipped his sniper rifle with a suppressor so the hostile forces couldn't track his position. However, based on the gunfire coming his way, he could deduce that his enemies figured out his location. Downstairs, Derek opened the front door slightly to lessen the chances of his enemies hitting him while also having enough space to aim and fire.

These guys are wearing hoods,Derek thought,but these guys aren't Overlord. Are these more of Tariq's guys or something?

The sniper blasted one of the enemies in the head.

Tyler and Alec took their time reloading before looking at each other.

"Just like old times, eh?" Tyler smirks before firing blindly.

"'Old'? Excuse me, Tyler, but we're notthatold." Alec quickly sprays a marriage of bullets at the hostiles. "A more accurate word would be 'recent'."

When Tyler's gun ran dry, he took out a grenade and threw it. "I didn't know you were discomposed by the word 'recent'; you're a young man, Alec."

"Yeah, if forty-four can be considered 'young' then I guess-" he was cut off by an explosion. "Yeah, I am young."

"Man, if only Erica were here to share this experience of feeling unencumbered."

Alec grunted. "Shut up and speak regularly."

"Just know when I use big vocab, Alec, I am not doing it to diminish the intelligence of the youth you grew up with, nor make you feel frugal."

Derek couldn't help but wonder what was up with these guys he was shooting at.

Why are these guys fanatical if they are part of Tariq's crew? What lengths are they going to go to actually stop us from looking for Noah's Ark? If Tariq knew about the priest, he may know about Bethany and kidnapped her. But if these guys are so hellbent on killing us, why are they giving us a second chance? If these guys kidnapped Bethany, was it to draw us out into the open so they could kill us or give us a chance to give up. Then again, Tariq showed no mercy and most certainly wouldn't allow us to walk away. Does that mean it wasn't Tariq's guys who kidnapped Bethany?

His staring off into space was interrupted when a bullet ricocheted off the surface beside him and he quickly took cover. He sat up against the wall and stared up into the ceiling.

The only other possible explanation is Overlord. Then again, there is no way Overlord could've known about the priest or Bethany. What is going on here? Who actually kidnapped Bethany and how did these guys know we'd be here? No clues or demands were made in the few hours Bethany was kidnapped so they couldn't have planned for us to be here.

He could only come to one conclusion.

I don't care who kidnapped Bethany or who the culprits are, as long as she is safe and sound. Speaking of which...

He reloaded his assault rifle before looking out the gap in the door to see Cassie, the Priest, Bethany, Blake, and Massey pinned behind a 4x4. He now had a target in mind and a VIP to protect:

Target: Guys shooting at Cassie. VIP: Cassie, Priest, Bethany.

Cassie specifically.

He traced the tracer bullets firing at the 4x4 jeep to its source and shot at the hostiles.

Back upstairs, Tyler and Alec decided to do a contest to see who could throw the grenade the longest. When they stood up and prepared to throw the grenades like baseball players, they saw something coming from behind the hostile vehicles.

More vehicles were incoming, except these ones were large 6x6 trucks, capable of carrying up to ten passengers in the back.

Those are Ural-4320 trucks,Tyler observed.Russian design. Are these guys Russian or... are these guys backup for the bad guys?

One of several Ural-4320 trucks plowed into one of the pickup trucks and crushed everyone behind it before stopping in the middle of the airfield and dismounted soldiers in the back.

The other trucks parked elsewhere on the runway and let out soldiers, who began shooting up the hooded hostiles.

What? There's a third party?Tyler looked around, remembering the grenade in his hand that wouldn't go off unless he let go of the primer handles.Is the enemy of my enemy my friend or my enemy?

One of the 6x6 trucks was going right for the wall under their firing position, answering his question.

"Fall back!" Tyler ordered.

Tyler and Alec jumped off the second floor, dropping the grenades, but the sniper was slow to react. It wasn't the explosion of the grenades that killed him (as they hadn't gone off yet) but when the truck plowed through the wall below him and sent him falling and crushing him under the wheels.

When Derek saw the wall at Tyler and Alec's position decimate into a million pieces, he jolted and went wide-eyed as he stared at the 6x6 truck that stopped in the center of the room. He jumped out of his pants when he heard two grenades blow up near the hole the trucks came from and aimed at the first 6x6.

The driver and passenger stepped out, along with ten more soldiers climbing out the back.

He instantly recognized the insignia on the driver's shoulder.

The driver waved at him.

"Hey, Lowell. It's us, your old pals, Overlord."

Chapter 17: Tyler and Alec

Chapter Text

17 Years Ago

April 2021

Boston, Massachusettes

If he was going to be completely honest, Alec Hooper wished his welcome home party could've been better. It's been four years since he left for the Navy and his mother never ceased to keep cooking for him. She cooked his favorite t-bone steak with a side of baked potatoes while topping it off with his favorite brand of beer. The 27-year-old redhead knew something was wrong. There was nothing wrong with the steak; his mother's cooking never ceased to amaze him and every bite of steak has a flavor that tastes better with each chew. The steak was absolutely delicious but it wasn't enough to distract him from finding something to be wrong. After a while, he finally figured out what was driving him crazy. He had been sitting in the backyard of his parent's house with his younger siblings and cousins present; what was wrong was staring at him in the face.

His father.

Alec nearly choked on a bite of his steak as he stared at his father with pieces of meat between his teeth like a wolf. It shouldn't have bothered him but his father's presence bothered him to a great degree. No matter how many bites of the juicy mouth-watering steak he ate, nothing could distract him from the hatred he had for his father.

Do you think I'll forgive you for what you've done?Alec questioned. Do youthink I'll forgive you for all the pain you put me and my younger brothers and sisters through?

Alec finished the last of his beer as he gulped down another piece of steak.

His younger sister, Alexa, who was the second oldest of the five siblings, sat down near her brother with a beer in her hand.

"How have you been, big bro?" she asked. She took a sip of beer before brushing the reddish-brown bangs out of her eyes.

"How haveyoubeen, Alexa?" Alec kept his gaze focused intensely on his father talking to his aunts and uncles.

"I've been good," she said smugly, "I got a job as a teacher's assistant at Boston University and my girlfriend-"

"I meant with Dad," he corrected. "How have you been with Dad?"

"It's going great actually," she confessed, staring at her brothers in the eyes. She noticed the ferocity in his eyes and decided to speak her next words carefully. "Dad hasn't laid a single finger on us in years. He's been going to counseling and we've been talking. Mom is working on patching our family up back together."

Alec shook his head. "No matter what he does," he hissed, "no matter how many walls he rebuilds, I will never forgive him for the abuse he put me through."

Alexa sat up and put a hand on her brother's shoulder. "Alec, he is trying really hard to be a better father. All he's ever wanted when you shipped out was for you to come back home. Do you know how heartbroken he was when you didn't write back to him; he thought you were killed."

"I pictured every Taliban I shot as my father," Alec growled before taking another bite of steak. "I wish I really was shooting my Dad back in that hellhole dessert country."

"Don't say such mean things about your father!"

Alec looked at his sister. "How can you forgive him for everything he's done for us?"

"You thought that life here would stop after you went to war? News flash: Life goes on when you're gone."

"If I die, then Dad goes on, living without facing any repercussions for his actions."

Alexa looked to her father before facing her older brother. "Please, A-Bug..."

He turned to her after hearing his childhood nickname.

"Give Dad a chance."

Alec looked to his father before looking back at his sister and sighed with a hint of regret or rather, annoyance.

"I wish I was back in Afghanistan," he whispered under his breath. "I wish someone shot at me so I can picture my dad's face on them and kill them."

He continued to devour at his steak like a hungry wolf, showing the steak no mercy.

Frankfort, Kentucky

It was supposed to be a happy event. Tyler Alvarez had received a big bonus from the mechanic shop and he was cashing in every cent to make sure his four-year-old could have the best birthday party ever. Tyler was 23 when he left for the Navy and left his girlfriend pregnant. The first time he's seeing his son, he felt an instinctive urge to protect his offspring but there was something off. He knew that every father protected their child because their child was their most precious treasure in the world but the feeling in which he was protecting his son felt different, yet familiar.

During his time as a SEAL, he was assigned the job of protecting a political man by transporting him from one destination to the next. Whenever the VIP was in danger, his instincts would kick in and protect the man at all costs. This was the same feeling he had with his son. When he was sitting next to his girlfriend in the backyard, watching the kids break open the pinata, he suddenly felt the need to protect his son.

The dog was encircling his son, his mouth going for his son's knees.

That dog is trying to hurt my son,Tyler panicked in his mind. He jumped to his feet and looked around.

I have to protect my son.

He could not find his assault rifle around.

I always have my M4 carbine at my side and I never leave without it! Who stole my gun? It doesn't matter; I MUST protect my son.

He looks over to the outside counter where they left the cake. There was a chief's knife on the edge of the counter and without hesitating, he ran to pick it up.

He heard his son yelp and turned to see his son on the ground with the dog on top of him.

He rushed for the dog, pulling him off by the collar and he raised the chief's knife above his head and-

"NO!"

He was tackled to the ground.

Taliban protecting his dog? I'll kill him.

He punches the attacker off of him and climbs on top of him. He raises his knife to stab him when he-

"TYLER!"

He paused.

'Tyler?' But it's Petty Officer 1st Class Alvarez. No one calls me by my first name.

He could hear crying coming from behind.

No doubt those are soldiers in pain. I'll finish this guy off and tend to my wounded comrades.

"Daddy!"

The single word shattered his entire composure and he dropped the cake knife.

'Daddy'? But... I'm not...

He looked over his shoulder to find the source of the voice and saw his four-year-old son looking at him with wide eyes and a terrified look on his face.

His mind returned to the right place and he was bombarded with emotions.

Tyler pushed himself off the man he was about to stab, his future brother-in-law, and looked over to the dog. It was looking at him and whimpering with concern. He saw the pinata on the ground and remembered where he was.

My son's birthday party... I'm at my son's birthday party.

He collapsed on his back and stared at the baby blue sky above him, feeling a lump of guilt growing in his heart.

I didn't mean to ruin my son's birthday.

The dog moved over to where he was laying down and started licking his face to comfort him.

I can't switch off even if I wanted to. On the battlefield, if I switched off for a single second, I would've been eaten alive by dogs.

On The Plane Ride to Istanbul

As Cassie and Derek were resting on one side of the plane, Tyler and Alec met up with each other and sat down together.

"What's up?" Alec questioned. "Us."

Tyler tilted his head.

"We're up in the air..." Alec hated having to explain the punchline of a joke.

Tyler finally got it. "Ha, nice one."

"One of many good jokes." Alec looked ahead and sighed. "It's been a while since we got to kill someone."

Tyler nodded, remembering the feeling of throwing that Turkish reporter out of the plane. "Yeah. It felt... at home."

Alec looked at him. "I'll bet. It's been years since we came back from Afghanistan and westillcan't function like regular people."

Tyler nodded. "Like circles to rectangles."

Alec stuttered. "I-I, don't get that m-metaphor."

Tyler rolled his eyes. He hated having to explain metaphors.

"When I look at civilians, I see them as rectangular shapes. When I see soldiers, I see circular shapes. However, a soldier did not start out as a circle, he was broken down as one from a rectangle. When you cut a rectangle and make it a circle, it is like that person is being reshaped to fit a certain society, ie. a civilian becoming a soldier. However, when that soldier's society becomes no more, he is thrown back to the civilians and expected to be a civvy. Unfortunately, because you cannot undo cutting a circle and making it a rectangle, it can never function in a society of rectangles. You and I, we were rectangles cut into circles and we can never function the same as a rectangle." He looked Alec in the eyes and pulled him in by the back of his head until their noses were nearly touching. "We have been permanently cut into a circle; we no longer belong in that rectangle society." He lets go of Alec's red hair.

Alec replayed the metaphor in his head before looking over at Derek. "I'm glad Erica managed to find a way to reshape herself into a rectangle."

Tyler looked at Derek and immediately understood his meaning. "Yes," he nodded curtly, "Derek is our VIP and it is our job as SEALs to protect the VIP."

"For Erica."

Tyler nodded once more. "For Erica."

Present

"Hey, Lowell. It's us, your old pals, Overlord."

Tyler and Alec sprang to cover behind an oil drum, not their best idea, but it was all they got and the darkness of the warehouse gave them an edge. When they peeked over the oil drum, they saw soldiers in black with night-vision goggles scanning the room and looking for soldiers. He couldn't see Derek but he knew that one of the soldiers from the truck was talking to him given that he said his surname.

"Derek's in trouble," Tyler whispered to Alec, "we have to save him."

Alec nodded. "Roger." He pulled out a grenade.

"We can't risk hurdling grenades unless we know where Derek's location is."

Alec showed him the grenade.

He smiled in relief. "A flashbang."

"And they're wearing night-vision goggles." Alec chuckled. "It's going to be hell for them."

"Even so, we're still outnumbered."

Alec looked over at the oil drum and saw Derek near the large gate at the front. He sighed as he thought over the plan he came up in his head. All he could do was offer a distraction for Derek while he did all the work.

He pulled the pin to the flashbang and threw it.

Derek squeezed his eyes shut and covered his face with his forearms. The flash grenade went off with several bangs and the night-vision goggles soldiers screamed in pain and staggered blindly. Once he was sure he could open his eyes, Derek jumped to his feet and pushed the front gate open, and exposed the inside of the warehouse to the outside.

Gunfire from the hooded hostiles sprayed into the warehouse and shot two soldiers away.

Cassie took cover behind the jeep, which was picking up more bullets as the battle raged on. She had wasted a dozen hooded figures but they kept coming like a starfish amputating its limbs and growing new starfish altogether.

Hydra snakes would be a more accurate metaphor.

She looked over the jeep and saw several 6x6 trucks pull up, plowing through several pickup trucks from the hooded hostiles, and began disembarking soldiers from the back.

Cassie recognized the insignia on the soldiers' arms.

Overlord?

Cassie was grabbed from behind and hauled up into the air like a sack of potatoes. Before she could squeeze the trigger on her gun, she was thrown across the ground with the gun slipping from her grip. She landed on her side with the butt of the gun touching the heel of her sneakers. She reached for the gun but it was kicked out of reach and she was kicked across the ground once more.

"Okay..." she groaned as she clutched her sides. "That really hurt." She picks herself up to her knees. Without looking, she said to her unseen enemy, "Surrender to me now and I'll let you live." When she looked up, her eyes met the gaze of a hooded man with a sleeveless jacket displaying his muscular physique.

"Uhhh..." Cassie gulped as the words were stolen from her mouth. "I promise to give you a lollipop when you surrender." She stood to her full height and put her guard up.

The hooded muscle socks Cassie in the stomach hard enough for her to jump off the ground and groan in pain.

Blake, Massey, shoot him!her mind screamed. She risked looking over to see Blake and Massey still engaged in shooting at the hooded men and Overlord in the three-way battle.

She nearly vomited her remains out but kept her insides where they belonged.

I had a delicious lunch today and I would hate for it to be upchucked before it's digested properly.

Cassie groaned as she slowly raised her hands up once more. "Okay, I'm not going easy anymore. I'm a black belt."

She assumes the crane stance.

The hooded muscle shook his head with a smile on his face. "Küçük kaltak." He advanced on her.

Cassie crane-kicks him in the groin. The hooded muscle barely flinches and grabs her foot before she can take it back.

Cassie jumps with her other foot and kicks him across the jaw. The hooded muscle stumbles back and lets go of Cassie's foot. Cassie kips up and ducks her head as the hooded muscle throws a fist at her.

Cassie punches him in the gut before striking him across the jaw. She jerks her head back as he goes for an uppercut. Cassie backed away from the advancing muscular man but flinched when a bullet whistled past her ear. The bullet caught her off guard for half a second but it was enough for the hooded muscle to kick her in the chest.

Cassie fell on her back and she crawled to a sitting position, not taking her eyes off the hooded muscle. "Can't we be friends?"

She rolled out the way in time as she was almost crushed by a piledriver move.

The Priest and Bethany ducked behind the jeep, covering their ears from the sound of gunfire. Blake and Massey continued to preoccupy themselves by shooting at the hoods and Overlord and the loud noise around them deafened them from hearing Cassie's engagement with the hooded muscle.

Bethany pointed at Cassie and cried for her uncle to do something. He saw Cassie's M4 carbine scattered across the ground but it was within the open and running for a gun in the open is a good way to paint a bullseye on the back of your skull in a three-way battle.

"Sir," he called to Blake. "Cassie is being attacked-"

His cries for help were cut off when Massey took a bullet to the skull and fell flat on his back.

A soldier in black, bearing the Overlord insignia, ambushed the four of them and ran around the jeep to hit Blake over the skull with the butt of his rifle. Once Blake was incapacitated, he charged for the Priest and tackled him to the ground.

Back in the warehouse, Derek was taking cover behind several crates and open firing on the Overlord soldiers from outside. He, Alec, and Tyler deal with the twelve Overlord soldiers from the trucks thanks to the hooded men taking several out. Just because the hooded men killed the Overlord soldiers in the warehouse didn't mean they were going to stop with them.

Derek ran for the front gate and pulled it open. He could feel a bullet whistle past his ear and hit the fuel tank to the 6x6 truck, causing gasoline to spill out. Alec and Tyler ran for the front gate and helped Derek close it. They pulled the gate closed just as Overlord soldiers began open firing and locked it up with chains they found in the corner of the warehouse.

"We have to get out of here," Derek panted.

"No sh*t, Sherlock," Alec deadpanned.

A loud noise caused the three men to jolt. A second truck arrived and drove smoothly in reverse through the hole the first 6x6 truck made earlier. Soldiers began dismounting from the back and opening firing at the three men.

Alec smiled as he held up his greatest weapon he picked up from a dead Overlord soldier.

"Say hello to my M249 SAW!"

He rapid-fired at the soldiers, squeezing the trigger without any sign of removing it. He refused to fire semi-automatically and sprayed the room with as many bullets as he can, hoping to cause as much damage as possible.

Derek and Tyler took cover near the wall and open fire on any soldiers that escaped the spray of bullets.

As Derek ran dry on the bullets in his assault rifle, he tried to reload before a shadow in the corner of his eye made him turn. He ducked his head as an Overlord soldier armed with an axe swung with the intent of beheading the young boy.

Derek backed away and ducked when the second strike came.

The axe thug growled in frustration as the only thing his axe hit was the wall and kept swinging.

"Is that the best you got?" Derek goated before ducking. "My grandmother can swing better than that." He ducked once more. "And she's dead!"

The axe soldier's last swing made contact but not with what he desired or anyone would desire.

The axe struck the cable leading to a junction box and caused a spark, sending electricity flowing through the screaming axe soldier as flames leaped out and covered the ground.

Derek jumped back before his foot got caught and felt his heart pound in his chest when he saw the fire follow a trail of gasoline leading to the truck with the leaking fuel tank. "Holy sh*t," he gasped breathlessly.

The truck would've exploded like a regular truck would - or wouldn't - but the small explosion sent gallons of gasoline spreading throughout the warehouse and igniting more flames.

"FIRE!"

Chapter 18: Tariq Avci

Chapter Text

25 Years Ago

May 2013

Istanbul, Turkey

If there was more for him to do then Tariq Avci would've done it in a heartbeat. He would've done more to save his parents from this predicament but he could only beg and cry for the gunmen to let his parents go.

His mother and father were pinned to the ground with guns above their heads by kids in their late teen years with the leader looking at the 9-year-old with a stern look on his face.

"Do you know where your parents kept the stuff?" he asked.

Tariq nodded. "Yes. Please, don't kill them."

"If you don't do what we say, we'll do something bad to you."

"Yusuf!" Tariq's mother yelled, "This is between us; you don't bring our son into this."

"You forced our hand in this decision!" Yusuf growled. "I would never kill a child but I didn't say I wouldn't punish him."

"Then let him go and we can talk about this."

Yusuf shook his head. "Nothing to talk about; you two have stolen an important piece of history and hid it from the world. We're here to retrieve it and give it back to the world." He looked back at the little boy. "Go find the treasure they stole or…" he co*cks his gun and points it at his mother's head, "or I kill your mother and then your father."

Tariq cried. "NO!" He held up both hands in defeat. "I know what you want; I'll get it for you."

He turned around and ran for the closest behind him. It was locked but he knew what the combination was. He inputted the combination and yanked at the lock but it remained trapped.

No, the combination!

He tried again, only to find it locked again.

What was the combination?!

"I changed it," Tariq's father called out. "The combination is when Cain murdered Abel."

Tariq looked at the lock and saw only three digits. He knew the answer though.

7-4-1.

Tariq yanked the lock off successfully and quickly yanked the closet door open. When it opened, a mountain of collected artifacts fell on top of him like an avalanche and knocked him on his back.

Tariq pulled himself out of the mess and crawled back, stopping when he heard a gasp and remembered Yusuf holding his parents hostage.

"I can't believe it," Yusuf gasped with wide eyes. "You stoleallthese artifacts?"

"We're private collectors," Tariq's father corrected, "we paid for them."

"No one man should have all of this." He looked at his companions. "I was going to spare you but after what you've done…" He aimed his gun at the man's head and pulled the trigger.

"DADDY!"

He aimed the gun at the woman.

"NO, MOMMY!"

BANG!

"MOMMY, DADDY!"

Yusuf sighed and looked away from the bodies, hands shaking nervously. "Sabri, start collecting."

The teen holding the father down nodded before going to collect the fallen artifacts.

Yusuf looked over at the young crying boy. "I won't kill you…" He tucked his gun away. "I swear."

Tariq looked at Yusuf with a face puffy from tears.

"I'm sorry to do this but your parents stole from the world; they were the bad people."

No,Tariq cried in his head.YOU'RE the bad guys. YOU are the devil.

15 Years Later

June 2028

"You want to take over the group?" Arda snorted with a chuckle. "Why?"

The 24-year-old Tariq looked at Arda, the man who has been by his side in the Sunni Islamic Worshippers for five years now.

"It has been my goal from the very beginning," Tariq answered. "The SIW works like a hierarchy, with one contributing to the group and rising in the ranks to lead but they are also delusional and fanatic. I think I can give them a new task."

Arda laughed. "What do you hope to achieve when you take over the SIW? Building new churches or creating a new religion?"

"Protecting the world and our people in this country."

"What?"

"My mother and father were killed by people who were seeking out treasure. My parents didn't steal them but they were still killed by treasure hunters. Turkey is home to Noah's Ark and a few other religious artifacts. How many of our people will die because of some treasure hunter trotting from country to country looking for a gemstone?"

"From my experience... none."

Tariq looked at Arda, not expecting him to understand. "Are you familiar with Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher?"

Arda went silent. Tariq took that as his answer.

"Let's say Drake is looking for... the Temple of Solomon for example and the search leads him here to this country. How many people would kill to look for the Temple of Solomon? I can't write down an answer because humans are too unpredictable but it's safe to assume that if there are no treasure hunters here, people won't get hurt in some thief's pursuit for a historical artifact."

Arda narrowed his eyes. "So this is about protecting people from falling victim, direct or indirect, of a treasure hunter. Are you sure you're doing this to protect people and not to make up for not saving your parents when you were a boy?"

Tariq didn't answer.

Arda chuckled before staring off into space, a thought suddenly occurring to him. "Why the SIW? Why not start your own gang?"

"Religious people are easier to control and manipulate."

"Are you going to teach them to use guns and whatnot?"

"Once I provide a reasonable explanation for switching tactics and using guns, they'll understand and I will use a process to make sure I only have loyal people under my thumb. These people want a reason to believe they're doing God's work. I don't believe in God or anything apart of Sunni Islam but as long as they do, they are loyal to me."

"Are they expendable to you?"

Tariq shook his head.

"AmIexpendable to you?"

Tariq patted his friend on the back. "You've been my friend for a long time, Arda, the best I could ever ask for; you're like a brother to me. The only way you're expendable to me is if you betray me."

Arda sighed in relief. "The day I betray my brother is the day I fall into the pits of Hell."

Tariq shook his head and thought,I don't believe in Hell.

Present

Tariq and Arda caught up to their Sunni Islamic Specialists and stayed in the back as they watched the battle play out.

"We've been set up," Tariq growled upon seeing the Overlord trucks plowing through his men, "Overlord."

Arda looked down and ran a hand across his forearm, where his Overlord tattooed serial number was hidden by his sleeve.

"We so got to get out of here!" Tyler exclaimed.

"No sh*t!" Derek cursed back.

Alec's spray of bullets had to be stopped when the fires jumped from the truck and nearly engulfed him. The Overlord soldiers backed away from the flames and kept their distance while they kept on firing.

Derek ran and tripped over a fallen soldier from their side. He picks himself up and looks for the window that Cassie, Bethany, and the Priest managed to climb out from earlier. Upon finding the window, he points at it and calls out for Tyler and Alec to regroup.

The fallen soldier Derek tripped over was revived when the stench of gasoline and fire awoke him. His vision was blurry from suddenly rising from his slumber and he couldn't tell if it was dark because his eyes were closed or because of the black smoke beginning to spread. Once he saw the orange flames, however, he knew the answer to his question.

The window the trio climbed out earlier about twelve feet in the air and a tall object like a shelf was required but Cassie used her grappling hook to lower herself and the others down. Derek desperately looks for the shelf they climbed earlier but it fell over. In his hasty attempt to lift it up, he felt someone touch his shoulder and nearly pulled the trigger when he saw Tyler.

"I'll give you a boost," he shouted over the gunfire. "I have to secure the VIP first!"

"I'm not leaving you!" Derek shouted.

"You're a highly valuable person, Derek, your mother would kill us if she knew that we failed to protect you."

"And she'll kill me for not protecting you!"

"Go home to your mother!" Tyler insisted. "She went from a rectangle to a circle and back to a rectangle; you deserve a mother like that!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Get out of here!" Tyler ordered once more. He pressed his back to the wall and cupped his hands together. "I'll give you a boost."

Derek hesitated before looking back at the Overlord soldiers and Alec. He turned back to Tyler and shouted, "You and Alec better escape."

Tyler nodded. "Yes sir."

The warehouse is on fire?Cassie questioned, briefly distracted from her brawl. Her eyes went wide with realization.The warehouse is on fire! Derek!

Cassie ducked, barely avoiding a punch to her temple, and moved around her muscled foe to grapple him from behind. She puts him in a headlock but he grabs her by the waist and bodyslams her.

Cassie gasped. "Don't think I'm a ragdoll just because of my size."

"Benden kısa olduğunu bilmiyordum," the hooded muscle erupted in a dry voice. He picked up Cassie by the hair and reeled his arm back, only to get socked in the face. He blocks a punch from Cassie and punches her in the jaw.

The Priest fell to the ground, accidentally hitting Bethany and pushing her into the open. She scrambled to her feet and quickly jumped inside the back of the jeep and kept her head.

The Priest flips the soldier off of him but he immediately kicks the Priest in the jaw with the sole of his boot and climbs on top of him. He begins punching him several more times in the jaw before picking him up and slamming his fist into the door of the jeep.

The Priest caught an incoming fist but was slow to react when the soldier kicked him in the stomach.

When the soldier went for a second kick, the Priest caught him around his knee and tackled him to the ground so he was on top.

Cassie elbows the hooded muscle in the face and punches him. She was slow to duck her head in time when he punched her and ended up hitting her forehead and knocking her to the ground.

Cassie climbs to her feet and uppercuts the hooded muscle in between the legs. This time, she got a reaction out of him. With the hooded muscle folded downward, she uppercuts him and sends him staggering back.

The Priest put both hands over the soldier's mouth to try and block his air supply until he went unconscious but the soldier kicked him off with both feet before diving in and putting the Priest in a headlock.

The Priest inserted his fingers between his throat and the soldier's forearm and attempted to pry his arm away from his throat. The soldier resisted and squeezed tighter with every fiber in his being. The Priest considered digging his nails into the soldier's arm but his tic to bite his nails made his nails dull and less sharp.

Is this how it ends?the Priest wondered.Strangled to death?

He looked over to his left to see Cassie continue to fight the hooded muscle and saw a 6x6 truck coming in their direction. Reinforcements coming to try and surround them from both sides no doubt and kill both Drake and the hooded guys. Now he was on the clock.

He remembered what he did with the brass knuckles he snatched off the thug from earlier, pulled them out of his pocket and put them on his fist. He kicks the soldier in the groin, escaping his grip, and does a one-eighty and punches the soldier square in the face, dropping him flat on his back.

Bethany, who was peeking half her head up from the jeep, saw her uncle punch the soldier with the brass knuckles and went "Wow, uncle."

He turned around and saw the 6x6 truck getting closer and closer. He looked around to find a weapon and found something that was even better: The rocket launcher the thug had when climbing out the jeep. He runs to pick it up and aims it at the 6x6, making sure Bethan is clear of the backblast, waiting for it to get close before he squeezes the trigger.

The 6x6 truck went up in flames like a firecracker and flopped on its side before skidding to a halt.

The explosion distracts the hooded muscle long enough for Cassie to jump on the hooded muscle back and put him in a headlock. She wrapped one of her arms around his throat while the other arm went for his mouth and she strangled and smothered with all her might.

The hooded muscle flips Cassie over his waist and punches in the back of the head so hard that her forehead bounces off the ground, unaware of a second 6x6 truck coming, picking up speed with the intent of running both of them over.

"What did you do?" Bethany exclaimed. "You blew them up!"

The Priest said, without looking at his niece, "God will understand."

The soldier he knocked out earlier regained consciousness in time to see the Priest blow up his comrades, grab him from behind and suplexe him. The Priest hit the ground headfirst and went limp on the concrete ground.

Bethany panicked and looked around the floor of the jeep for something she could use. She grabbed the first item she could find.

The soldier picked up his fallen pistol and aimed it at the downed priest. As he was about to pull the trigger, the sight of Bethany in the corner of his eye made him face her.

"God will understand," the 13-year-old declared.

She swung a tire iron down on his forehead as hard as she could. The soldier's eyes went wide and his body seized up. He fell on his back with the gun discharging as soon as he hit the flat ground, the gun pointing in the direction of the incoming 6x6 truck.

The driver of the 6x6 was laughing hysterically at the thought of running two people over and just as he was about to make his targets, the lights went out.

The stray bullet from the tire iron soldier's gun hit him in the forehead. He fell back against the seat with his foot stomping on the gas, making the vehicle go faster.

The hooded muscle decided that now was the time to finish Cassie. He turned around, picked up Cassie's fallen gun, aimed it at the young woman, and-

WHAM!

The 6x6 truck strays into the hooded muscle's path and runs him over before plowing into the middle of the battlefield and tipping over on its side.

Cassie chuckled. "This is why you always look both ways before crossing." She picks herself up and retrieves her M4 carbine, which the hooded muscle dropped before he was made into roadkill.

Blake regained consciousness and pointed at the SUVs still a walking distance away. "Let's get to the SUVS!" he shouted. He helped the Priest pull Bethany out of the jeep and carry her to the SUV. Cassie provided covering fire as she caught up with him. Once they made it to the SUV, the Priest and Bethany climbed in the back while Cassie got in the passenger's seat.

"Where are the others?" Cassie asked Blake, who assumed the role of the driver.

Blake turned the keys. "We have to get you guys out first!"

"What about the others?"

Blake plugged the key in the ignition. "Tyler and Alec are professionals; they have been in combat before."

"So has Tom Hanks inSaving Private Ryan;we're not leaving without Derek."

Blake shifted gears. "That's a big negative, Drake."

Cassie unbuckled her seatbelt. "You drive out of here, I am staying behind for Derek-"

A hand slammed on the windshield in front of her, causing her to jump in her seat and see Derek at the passenger window, covered in black ash.

"DRIVE!" he shouted.

Cassie quickly rolled down the window grabbed Derek by the back of the hair and yanked him in as Blake took off.

Chapter 19: Burak and Leyla

Chapter Text

4 Years Ago

February 2034

Ten Miles East Outside The Aegean Region

The Cage

Burak barely fulfilled his end of the deal. Had he not got the smokes from the other prisoners, they would've beaten him to a pulp and made mincemeat out of him. He did not fancy dying anytime soon as he was too young to die (only 23). As long as he fulfilled his end of the deal, the gangs in the prison would leave him alone and as promised, he would be given a cigarette pack as payment.

When it was time for the outdoors, he ran up to the fence separating the men from the women and sat down with his back turned. Sitting with one's back turned wasn't advised but he trusted the person his back was touching through the fence.

He took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. He put his mouth through the gaps in the fence and waited for the female prisoner to light up his cigarette.

Leyla snapped her zippo shut. "You know, first-hand smoke is just as dangerous as second-hand smoke."

Burak took a long drag before saying, "Then I guess we both suffocate to death." He took another drag and was careful with where he blew the smoke.

Leyla looked around the courtyard, keeping her eyes on every prisoner in sight, making sure none of them snuck up on her with a shiv.

"How's it going on your end of the Cage?" she asked.

'The Cage' is what they called the prison. The worst of the worst were sent here to rot and more often than not, none of the people sentenced here got out on parole. In order to get out of this prison, one's prison sentence had to be 'traded' in exchange for services, ie, a prisoner with fifty years can trade twenty-five years in exchange for being a bitch to one of the guards. Most prisoners would rather rot than be someone's bitch so they kept to themselves and formed their gangs to survive.

Leyla sat back and listened to the sound of her companion taking long drags from his cigarette before feeling a dam of tears about to burst. She bit her lip to keep herself from crying but she could not hide the crack in her voice when she whispered, "I have to get out of here..."

Burak nodded, even though she couldn't see it.

"I don't belong in a place like this," she continued, "I feel myself losing my mind fighting to survive every day. I don't belong in this place; it's not fair that I was sentenced here."

Burak acknowledged her by saying, "Neither of us do; it's the goddamn system they set up. We're 23 and 22 and already sentenced to life in prison. If one does trade their sentences for services for the guards, they leave this place with their dignity stripped. Even if they leave this place with their dignity intact, they escaped justice by escaping their prison sentence and most of these people are convicted murderers and rapists."

"You're not a murdererorrapist," Leyla pointed out. "It was a stupid mistake you made and it was unfair you got life without parole."

Burak spotted a guard roaming one of the gates with a baton in his hand, keeping an eye on the prisoners. "And it's not fair you're living out someone else's prison sentence, Leyla."

Leyla twisted on her backside to face Burak's back. She tapped him on the shoulder and caught his attention. "Are you willing to trade your prison sentences?"

Burak looked at her with a grim look in his eyes. "Areyouwilling to have sex with one of the guards?"

Leyla cringed and shook her head. "Never. If the rumors I hear are true, they're carrying diseases with them."

Burak nodded. "I'm not surprised, they are vermin."

She laughed.

Burak finished his cigarette and put it out. He put his hand to the fence and touched Leyla's fingers. "I promise; we will get out of this prison...together."

Leyla smiled. "Together."

They kissed through the fence.

1 Year Later

Burak marched over to the gate where the guards stood watching. He walked with determination and a goal in mind, this made him ignore every passing prisoner that came by. When he walked up to the guard, the dog at his side began barking at the prisoner but Burak barely flinched.

"Burak," the guard laughed, "what's up, druggie?"

"I request that my wife be taken someone safe while she delivers," Burak said with seriousness. "She is having contractions and I don't want her to deliver in her cell."

The guard dragged his baton across the gate, causing a thump-thump sound across the fence. "Why should I? A thief like her deserves to rot in jail, dying in her own blood. Tragic irony for an organ thief to die in their own blood."

Burak smacked his hands against the gate. The guard was startled but he held back a flinch but Burak saw the slightest flinch out the guard. "Do you want an innocent baby to die?"

The guard contemplated. "A baby created by you and Leyla is anything but innocent. Every single one of you in this godforsaken place is nothing but a scumbag who deserves the death penalty." He puts his baton. "However, I am willing to order a medical team in to take Leyla to the hospital wing if it makes you feel better."

Burak narrowed his eyes. "Price?"

"You know what I want."

Burak kept his face as expressionless as possible. He knew that something like this was going to happen and he would've mentally prepared himself but the minute he heard his wife scream in pain, he was willing to do anything to get her to deliver in better conditions.

But I'm not going to make things easy for him.

"If that's what you want then there better be something for me to suck, you fa*g."

The guard grabbed the fence and growled. "You little-"

"Yaman!"

The guard turned his back to Burak and faced an unseen new guard.

"Hasan," the guard called out. "I thought your shift was over."

The new guard, Hasan, approached Yaman with a predatory look in his eyes. "What is this I hear about you refusing medical care to a prisoner who needs it?"

Without hesitating, Yaman snapped, "They're the worst of the worst and none of them deserve luxurious treatments. They're all murderers, rapists-"

"And forcing a guy to suck your dick isn't considered rape?" Hasan cut off. "You were going to rape this prisoner, weren't you?"

Yaman shook his head. "It's not rape if they consent to it."

"It is if you're forcing them to consent." Hasan walked up to the guard and stood face-to-face to him, looking like he was ready to smash his teeth in. "I already called in a medical team and they're coming to move the prisoner to the hospital wing." He grabs the guard by the throat and shoves him against the gate and begins squeezing his windpipe. "If I ever catch you in the act of raping people again, I'll make sure you face worse punishment than living the rest of your life as a registered sex offender." He socks Yaman in the jaw. "Ya never know; you might be climbing a ladder and someone might kick it from below and send you falling. With any luck, you'll break your neck." He knees Yaman in the groin. "Get out of my sight."

Yaman nodded before waddling away while keeping a hand on his groin area.

Hasan turned to look at Burak with a smile on his face. "Burak."

Burak tilted his head. "Who are you?"

"My name is Hasan."

"New guard?"

Hasan shook his head. He rolled up the sleeve on his right arm and displayed the serial number tattooed across.

"My name is Hasan Kutlar and I am a soldier working under the command of Overlord." He tilted his head and looked for a reaction. "I'm sure you've heard of it."

Burak nodded. "Global terrorist group, involved in that civil war in Italy, desiring world domination, people dying left and right..."

Hasan laughed. "That is onlyhalfthe story. I'm going to get straight to the point: I want to recruit you and your wife into Overlord."

Burak shook his head. "I willnotbecome part of a terrorist group. I was caught with drugs I was not aware was in my possession and I want a second chance out of the Cage."

"The world isn't going to give you a second chance," he argued, "it isthatunfair world out there that put you in The Cage. If you want a second chance, come with me."

"I told you: I willnotjoin a terrorist group."

"Trust me; there issomuch more to Overlord than terrorizing people." He thought of something and clicked his tongue. "How about this: You and your wife come with me back to headquarters and I will show you what goes on behind the scenes with Overlord for one day. If you don't like it, I will drop the recruitment pitch and let you be on your merry-go-way. Either way, I'll see to it that you'll get out of this prison with your wife and child."

Burak shook his head, still denying the offer but there was something in the way that Hasan presented himself that he felt could trust. He willnotjoin a terrorist group but at the same time, this man called in a medical team to help his wife deliver. The least he could do was come see what Overlord has to offer.

Under NO circ*mstances will I join this terrorist group.

Burak looked up at Hasan and said, "Okay."

Blake was driving the SUV as far from the battlefield as possible. With Cassie holding onto Derek by the back of his head, he made sure to control his turns so as to not throw Derek off by accident. Cassie had been yelling in Derek's face for him to get in the backseat and he did just that. He climbed across the vehicle to make it to the backseat, where he climbed in through the Priest's rolled-down window.

As he was climbing in, his forehead fell into the Priest's groin and made the religious man groan in pain. He apologized before crawling over his lap and nearly crushing Bethany as he climbed into the empty seat.

The Priest put a hand to his groin and wince. "Are you trying to kill my children before I have any?"

"I didn't mean to," Derek apologized. "Sorry."

"By God's balls, youwillbe sorry."

Bethany cringed.I don't want to think of God having balls. I know He is a man but... I don't want to picture his balls.

Cassie looked over in the backseat to make sure Derek was seated. As she was about to ask if everyone had their seatbelts on, her heart suddenly started pumping fast in her chest to the point she thought she was going to have a heart attack.

My Drake senses are tingling.

"We got some friends," Cassie warned, hoping her instincts were wrong

"Sunni Islam?" The Priest asked.

Cassie looked at him in the rearview mirror. "Sunny what? Sunny D?"

"No, 'Sunni Islam'."

"What about it?"

The Priest slapped his hand against his forehead. "Those people that were shooting at us, the guys in the hood, they were called the Sunni Islamic Specialists, or SIS. Those are Tariq's guys."

Cassie went 'Oh'. "Sissies." She remembered what the conversation was about. "No, terrorists; I think Overlord is on our trail."

A 6x6 truck put the metal to the pedal, rammed into the SUV from the right and sent it skidding across the ground.

The passengers inside the vehicle jolted, flinging their arms up and down as the SUV flailed through the air before skidding to a stop at the edge of a bridge. The airbags deployed for Cassie on the front and she slammed herself nose-first into it.

The Priest bumped heads with Derek while Bethany landed on the floor mats.

"Uhh..." Cassie groaned before testing to see if she could move her arm. Once she felt the mobility in her limp, she picked it up to push herself off the dashboard. The first sense to return was taste and oh boy was she hating that taste of blood in her mouth.

I don't know how vampires can stomach it.

She pushes herself off the airbag and leans back in the chair. She looks over to the driver's side to see Blake flung headfirst through the window, bleeding at the scalp. She noticed his airbag didn't deploy.

He wasn't wearing his seatbelt, sh*t.

She remembers the M4 carbine she had holstered around her back and kicked open the door to climb out. Without wasting any time, she moved to the back doors and opened them.

Derek felt out like a mannequin and groaned in pain.

"Yagmur," Cassie called out. She saw the Priest lying on the seats with Bethany sitting on her knees with a bruise on her elbow.

"I hit my funny bone," Bethany winced.

"Haha," Cassie deadpanned. She grabs the Priest by the back of his collar and yanks him to a sitting position. His eyes were closed shut and his mouth slightly gaped.

Cassie panicked. "Is he going to be okay?"

The Priest's mouth started moving but no sound came out. Once Cassie put an ear to his mouth, she could hear him mutter...

"Hail Mary, full of grace..."

"Is he praying?" Bethany questioned. When she saw Cassie nod, she knew the answer. "Uncle will be fine."

Cassie helped Bethany climb out before they pulled the Priest out together. Cassie tapped Derek on the shoulder with her shoe and helped him to his feet. Together, they carried the praying Priest with one arm on each shoulder.

"We got company!" Bethany gasped.

Cassie and Derek turned to see the unexpected company.

"Oh... my... god..." a man gasped with each word. "I heard the legends about Cassie Drake being an unstoppable one-woman army with how many people she's taken down solo but now that I'm looking at you in the flesh I..."

The woman beside him spoke. "Human is what my husband is trying to say."

Cassie chuckled. "I see my reputation proceeds me. If you wanted an autograph, all you had to do was ask. Fair warning: I don't personalize."

The men climbing out of the 6x6 truck beside the husband and wife aimed guns at them.

"Nice to see you again, Overlord."

Burak and Leyla waved sarcastically at the treasure hunters.

The woman pointed at Cassie's companions. "Derek Lowell... Yagmur Sadik, and Belinay Sadik." She shook her head. "How can you follow this woman into oblivion?"

"She's our friend," Bethany declared, "she saved me from you."

"From us?" Leyla gestured to the soldiers behind her. "What did we do to you aside from shooting bullets at you?"

"You kidnapped me!"

Leyla shook her head. "We didn't kidnap you, we wouldneverdo that to a child, especially a 13-year-old." She looked at her husband. "Right, Burak." He nodded. "But whoever did, I can assure you that they will pay."

Hasan, standing behind the husband and wife, grunted.

"It doesn't matter," Cassie grunted at the duo, "you guys still shot at us, and let's not forget that you're terrorists. And given ourhistory,you like digging around for mythical objects and lost cities to take over the world."

The woman laughed. "Yeah, I won't deny that." She sighed heavily. "Propaganda made us out to be terrorists. While wehavecommitted acts that people would consider terrorism, we arenotterrorists at heart. Had you bothered to join us, you would know that."

Cassie shook her head. "I willneverjoin Overlord. Make as many excuses as you want; at the end of the day, Overlord is a global terrorist group."

"There is so much more to Overlord than terrorism," Burak interrupted, "we are good people at heart.Betterthan you could ever be."

"I don't kill innocent people," Cassie reminded.

He pointed to Bethany and the Priest. "But you have no problem endangering innocent people."

"Wechosethis," Bethany said.After finding out it was the only way to escape alive and the fact that I was kidnapped and Uncle got involved to save me.

"Why?" Cassie demanded. "What are you guys doing here in Turkey? What are you guys looking for? What weapon of mass destruction are you looking for?"

"That's need-to-know," Leyla reminded. "And you don't need to know. But I know what you're doing here, Drake. Looking for Noah's Ark."

Cassie's eyes went wide.How does she know about that?

"I'm beginning to think that was a lie. I bet you came over here, saying you're looking for Noah's Ark, only to end up killing all of Overlord soldiers."

"I had no idea Overlord was in Turkey to begin with, let alone what they were looking for."

"You think you're better than us, Cassie, but you're just as bad as us."

"Elaborate."

Burak crossed his arms over his chest. "We've lost countless soldiers because of you."

"I only kill in self-defense."

"You only keep track of the people you kill in self-defense, not the people who are dead because of you."

Leyla explained by saying, "You may have heard about this from a news article but Overlord's population is dwindling. You've killed a lot of soldiers but your indirect kills number in three to four digits at least." She growled. "Overlord's goal is to create peace for everyone on this godforsaken planet. We bust our asses off to look for mythical objects to acquire that peace. The people who are recruited into Overlord are victims of this cruel, wicked, and unfair world. We give them hope that we're going to set things right but because of our constant failures, you being alargefactor in those failures, our ranks are losing hope in Overlord's cause. Our people are taking their own lives because you took away their hope ofeverfinding a cure to this godawful world!"

Cassie shook her head like a disapproving mother. "You're brainwashed."

"No," Burak hissed. "Overlord saved me and my wife and my child from rotting in the worst prison imaginable." He gestured to a soldier behind him. "Hasan saved us, showed us that there is more to Overlord to killing. Because of him, we were able to obliterate The Cage to the ground and make this world a little bit safer. Overlord is about the world, you are about yourself. You're not looking for mythical objects to save the world, you're doing it because you're an adrenaline junkie."

Cassie rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"People are committing suicide because of you. People are losing hope because of you. People-"

"Are being brainwashed into thinking murder is correct," she cut off. "I'm sorry for the cruel and wicked world you had to endure. I'm sorry for all the friends you lost but none of that was my fault."

The husband and wife glared at the young treasure hunter.

"How could you say that?" Leyla clenched her fists. "You bitch."

"You're not the leader of Overlord; you didn't found the organization, the Overlord Leader did. Whoever the leader is, he or she is the one who decided to recruit victims of this fair world. What he is doing is no better than ISIS or Taliban recruiting weak-willed people into their ranks and brainwashing them into thinking their cause is just. I'm not the enemy here, the Overlord leader is."

Burak drew his gun. "Don't speak ill of our leader like that. I will admit that there are some methods the leader imposes that are flawed, such as you being made an Omega target. If it were up to me, I'd shoot you in the head right now." He got an idea. "On second thought..." he pulled the hammer. "...that sounds like a good idea."

Chapter 20: Reluctant Confession

Chapter Text

Burak drew his gun. "Don't speak ill of our leader like that. I will admit that there are some methods the leader imposes that are flawed, such as you being made an Omega target. If it were up to me, I'd shoot you in the head right now." He got an idea. "On second thought..." he pulled the hammer. "...that sounds like a good idea."

Cassie stared at Burak in the eyes to show that she felt no fear towards him, staring at him like a lion protecting its pride. She bared her teeth at him as he began squeezing at the trigger.

"W-wait," the stuttering Hasan spoke, "d-don't do i-it, Bura-k."

Burak ignored him and the trigger was pulled halfway back before the sound of a gun being co*cked right next to his ear.

"Drake is an O-omega... can't... hu-rt... h-her."

Burak turned to look at Hasan to find himself staring into the face of a gun barrel.

The stuttering Hasan had a sweaty, nervous expression on his face that was quickly replaced with a face of confidence and seriousness.

"I'm ordering younotto shoot Drake," Hasan spoke smoothly and clearly.

"You're aiming your gun at the wrong person!" Burak yelled and nearly pulled the trigger.

"Did I stutter?!" Hasan yelled in his face. "Put the gun down or I'll put you down."

The Overlord soldiers pointed their guns at Burak.

"Sir," a soldier began, "we are going to have to insist you put the gun away. Drake is an Omega and therefore, has been granted immunity from death."

Burak refused to put the gun down. "She is responsible for so many deaths and because she is an Omega target, she gets a free pass? It's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair," Hasan chuckled. "But Drake is going to help us make it fair for us, one way or another, as the Leader declared her an Omega target."

Burak turned his gaze back at Cassie. "After everything she's done... you really can't-"

Leyla grabbed her husband's hand with the gun. "Burak, please put the gun down," she begged. She grabbed him by the collar. "Put. The gun. Down."

Burak looked at his wife with a hint of betrayal in his eyes, not expecting his wife to 'turn' on him. "You actually want Drake to live?"

She shook her head. "As much as I hate her, we need her alive. The rules are we keep Drake alive as she is invaluable. If you disobey orders, you are disrespecting everything that Overlord stands for. You are disrespecting the future that we are trying to build for our son." She grabbed the gun with her other hand. "Put the gun down."

While they were distracted, Derek looked over to the bridge to see that the edge had been fenced off. He didn't know how high they were but as long as they landed feet-first into the water, they should be fine. Derek looked at Cassie, discreetly tapping her shoulder with his finger, and gestured with his eyes over to the bridge.

She nodded her eyeballs up and down.

Then Derek remembered something.I hope there are no rocks for us to fall down below.

"Alright." Burak put down the gun and looked back at the treasure hunters. "I won't kill you but I won't let any of you-"

A gunshot rang off and a bullet whistled past Burak's head. He instinctively turned and shot at the person and hit them in the shoulder. It was dark out but there was enough moonlight to illuminate the face of the man clutching his wounded shoulder.

Tariq.

"Well, well, well," Burak laughed, "Tariq the bartender. Hey, have you managed to get any discounts for us on beers?"

Tariq picked up his fallen gun and aimed it at the soldiers.

They drew their guns.

"You betrayed me," Tariq said. "Your boys shot at my boys at the warehouse. You killed almost all of them!"

Burak shrugged. "Religious fanatics like you don't have a place in this world."

"Nor do people who favor ambition over human life," the bartender countered. "I will kill you all."

Cassie waved. "Tariq, good thing you are here! These people aiming guns at us are terrorists. God sent you to save us from these terrorists so if you can shoot them-"

"Shut up," Tariq cut off. "Shut up!"

"You're outnumbered," Leyla warned. "Give up. Ten to one."

"Ten to two," Tariq corrected, nodding to a man who suddenly materialized behind him. "Right, Arda?"

The man called Arda shook his head.

"Arda?" Tariq looked around to see a gun pointed at his face.

"I'm sorry," Arda whispered with guilt. "I truly am."

Tariq's eyes went wide, forgetting the pain of the bullet in his shoulder. "No."

"I never wanted this to happen," Arda promised, "you reallywerelike a brother to me, more of a brother than my real brother was."

Hasan grunted in annoyance.

Tariq wanted to lash out at him to claw out his eyeballs with his fingernails but his hands felt numb and he could only follow his instinct to ask the one question on his mind.

"How long?"

Arda didn't ask for any clarifications because he knew what Tariq was asking. "8 years."

Tariq nodded, accepting the truth rather than denying it. "Drafted or..."

"Overlord does not draft," Hasan spoke.

"Hasan," Arda spoke softly, "let me talk."

Hasan nodded.

"You started your cause to fight in what you believe in, I joined a cause to fight in what I believe in."

Tariq nodded with a blank expression. "I can't get mad at you right there. I guess..."

"This is poetic justice."

Tariq turned to the source of the voice: The Priest.

The Priest lifted his head up and looked at Tariq, feeling the strength in his legs come back as he faced his opponent. "You have been killing people for the most ludicrous of reasons. God gave us free will and if you're killing us to stop us from expressing free will then this is the perfect karma."

Tariq looked at the Priest with a look on his face that said, you-don't-know-anything.

"You committed acts of terrorism, you kidnapped my niece-"

Tariq furrowed his brows into a V. "I didn't kidnap your niece."

The Priest went silent. "What?"

"I would never do something like that to a child. What gave you the idea that I kidnapped your niece?"

The Priest stuttered to get the words out. "You know my identity and about Bethany and if Overlord didn't kidnap Bethany then the only logical conclusion is you did. You kidnapped Bethany to force us to stop looking for Noah's Ark."

Tariq shook his head. "Since you guys are looking for Noah's Ark, I would never let you guys walk away scot-free."

Cassie blinked rapidly as she tried to comprehend the situation happening around her.If Overlord didn't kidnap Bethany and Sunny IsDumb didn't, then who did? A third party or someone working under these guys who went rogue?

She mentally shook her head.

It doesn't matter. We need to jump off this bridge and swim as far away as possible.

Arda looked over at Tariq. "Commander Uzun, as my superior, I am making a request that you spare Tariq. He doesnotdeserve to die."

Burak kept his eyes focused on Cassie so Leyla answered for him. "Can you assure us that he will pose no threat to us?"

Arda nodded. Tariq nodded with visible hesitation.

"Tariq shall be spared from-" Her eyes went wide. "WHO THE HELL IS THAT?!"

Cassie, Derek, Bethany, and The Priest looked in Leyla's direction.

A pair of headlights came straight for them, a horn's roar echoing in the as the headlights got closer and closer. It didn't take a genius to know that it was a 6x6 truck and that it was coming straight for the torn SUV Cassie and co. use to escape.

"WATCH OUT!" a soldier yelled.

The truck plowed through the soldiers, crushing them under the wheels.

Arda grabbed Tariq and pulled him out the way while Leyla and Burak jumped out the way in time. Hasan dropped to the ground and barely touched flatly on the ground with the truck driving over him.

Derek yanked the Priest forward while Cassie grabbed Bethany by the wrist and hauled her away.

The driver and passenger jumped out the passenger's side just as the truck plowed into the totaled SUV with a high crash.

Tyler and Alec rolled across the ground before coming to a stop a few feet away from the SUV. Tyler looked at his watch and quickly picked himself up. "RUN!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Cassie, Derek, Bethany, Tyler, Alec, and The Priest (with all strength returned), sprinted for the gate at the edge of the bridge, climbed up and-

In the back of the 6x6 truck, a fuse on fire reached a box of dynamite and ignited the truck into a big game, setting the air around it on fire and sending black smoke into the air.

In slow motion, Burak pulled Leyla to the ground and climbed on top of her to protect her.

Hasan and Arda covered their faces with their forearms and stumbled back from the explosion.

Tariq attempted to run for it but the explosion made him jump before falling flat on his knees and landing on his stomach.

Cassie, Derek, Bethany, Tyler, Alec, and The Priest leaped off the bridge and plunged fifty feet into the ocean.

Cassie didn't realize she left twoveryimportant items behind.

After twenty minutes of swimming in the ocean, Cassie, Derek, Bethany, The Priest, Tyler, and Alec made it to shore, drenched head to toe in soaking wet water and drained of stamina.

Cassie stumbles onto the sandy beach and the minute she felt her feet touch solid ground, she collapsed to her knees before falling face-first into the sand. Derek nearly tripped and lost his balance but caught himself with his elbows. The Priest fell on his back with Bethany falling on his stomach and using it as a pillow.

Tyler and Alec stood their ground and stayed standing but their exhaustion was evident by their chests rising up and down like a teeter-totter.

"Navy SEALs!" Tyler cheered and patted Alec on the pat.

"NAVY SEALSs!" Alec cheered back.

"Thank you," Derek panted, barely getting the words out over his gasps. "How did you escape?"

"One of the soldiers who was unconscious in the warehouse decided to stay behind and hold off the soldiers," Alec answered, "after boosting us up and out the window. The trucks blew up with a stick of dynamite in the back. All we had to do was time the crash and escape."

Cassie pushed herself up with her knees and stared out into the sea, the ocean stretching as far as the eye can see.

That's a pretty view,she thought.The open ocean, the night sky, the moon, the birds chirping in the distance, everything. Sometimes, you forget to stop to smell the roses... or in this case... the salty sea.

She planted her backside in the side and wrapped her arms around her knees.

I never realized how soft this sand feels against my butt.

Her eyes widened.

Wait a second!

She quickly climbs to her feet as slowly, albeit in a drunk fashion, as possible, and reached into her back pocket to pull out... a handful of air.

Where's my journal?

She checked her other back pocket.

Where is my journal?

She checked her front pockets.

WHERE IS MY JOURNAL?!

"Oh crap!" she shouted. "I lost my notebook."

Derek sat up and looked at her. "What notebook?" Her eyes went wide. "Oh,thatnotebook."

If I remember correctly, Cassie put a map to the entrance to Noah's Ark inside the book. Last time I saw her use it was in the SUV before the warehouse shootout. Did she leave it in the car or...

"I must've lost it at sea or..." Cassie began pacing back and forth nervously, her fingers getting twitchy as she went back and forth on the beach.

"What's so special about that journal?" Tyler asked.

"That notebook had a map to Noah's Ark inside it," Cassie spoke in one breath. "If Overlord got their hands on it then they'll know where Noah's Ark is. If I lost it at sea, I can't use the clues I gathered to figure out how to survive inside the ark."

Once the Priest's comprehensive ability came back, he blindly asked in a slurred voice, "What are you talking about?"

"I wrote the clues of how to survive Noah's Ark in my journal and if Overlord got their hands on it then I'm dead."

"How could they have gotten their hands on it?" Derek asked. Only one thought came to his mind. "The car crash perhaps?"

"We have to get to Noah's Ark before they do." Cassie stopped pacing for a second before pacing again. "Crap, crap, crap. We can't afford to waste any time; we have to get to Mount Ararat ASAP."

The Priest sat up after gently pushing Bethany off his abdomen. "What's got you so worked up over Noah's Ark? How can that global terrorist group take over the world with Noah's Ark?"

"I agree with St. Father here," Tyler said, "a global terrorist group interested in Noah's Ark does not seem plausible."

Cassie shook her head. "No, it's not about Noah's Ark, it's about what'sinNoah's Ark."

"What are you talking about?" the Priest asked.

Cassie regretted opening her mouth because she had dug herself a hole. She blurted the words out before she could premeditate what she was about to say and now everyone, even the thirteen-year-old, was looking at her oddly. She turned to her friend to see Derek looking at her suspiciously.

I'm tired,Cassie though.I'm so tired and exhausted from lying. It's not like I can walk away if I want to.

You have to find Noah's Ark. Your job, your destiny, your duty, you must complete-

Yeah, yeah, shut up inner monologue.

"I was hypnotized."

She figured if she was going to tell the truth, she might as well just get it out the way. "I don't expect any of you to believe me but that treasure box, ever since I touched that stick of wood inside, I've been getting visions. I'm on a boat, swimming in the ocean, rappeling down churches, climbing mountains, and jumping from rock to rock, and it is all leading up to something: Finding Noah's Ark." She paused when she realized her fingers subconsciously wrapped around her belt loops. "I keep hearing voices in my head, telling me to look for Noah's Ark and the more I resist, the stronger my urges become." She remembered how each vision nearly ended with Derek almost kissing her and she felt herself blush for the tiniest fraction of a second before she looked down. "These visions... they're guiding me in my search to looking for Noah's Ark. These visions told me that there were two broken off pieces of the ark hidden in the world and showed me their exact location, along with the exact location to Noah's Ark and the trials that await inside."

She paused to wait for a reaction; they let her continue talking.

"I-" she choked on her next word, "I have to find Noah's Ark." She licked her lips and nervously rubbed the fluids on her forehead and she was hoping it was ocean water and not sweat. "Even now, I'm hearing the voices in my head right now." She looks up at the Priest. "I came here to Istanbul for the sole purpose of looking for Noah's Ark, nothing more." She turned to Derek. "I didn't mean for you to get involved." She looked at Tyler and Alec. "Or your mother's old teammates." She looked at Bethany. "And especially Little B over there."

Now that she said everything on her mind, now was the time for her to face the music. No more hiding from the truth. She didn't expect any of them to believe them with the exception of Derek but she wanted them to know that they can walk away. She told herself she can finish this adventure on her. She'll find Noah's Ark, complete the trials inside, then hide it from the world. She didn't need a map because she got the exact location memorized in her head.

I never should've written it down on the map. Best case scenario, it was lost at sea but I can't risk it. I-

Tyler and Alec laughed with all the energy in their bellies.

"You really expect us to believe something like that?!" Tyler broke out in laughter. "That's the funniest thing I've ever heard."

No surprise coming from an atheist,she thought.

"It all makes sense."

Cassie snapped her head at Derek, looking at him with wide eyes.

He stared at the ground as he continued, "There was something off with you going on this adventure. I thought that I was making it up in my head but I could tell by the look in your eye that you saw something that I couldn't see." He thought back to the church. "How you automatically knew the location of Noah's Ark and your insistence on risking your life looking for something so mundane, you would never expect people to shoot at you. The fact that the box belonged to Alexander Goldman, who died three years ago, last seen in Turkey if my information is up to date, supports your claim." He thought back to their previous adventures. "And not to mention the fact that we've encountered the supernatural before. There may have been a scientific explanation for the stuff we saw in the past but still... I'm more than willing to believe in genuine magic when it comes to figures to the bible."

"I don't expect you to believe me," Cassie cut off, "I wanted to explain my motives to you. I've dragged all of you deep down into this rabbit hole and I must finish this adventure myself."

"No," Derek rebutted fiercely, "you willnotgo on this adventure yourself." He looked her in the eyes. "Iwillgo with you on this adventure. I will go to Mount Ararat with you and have you complete this hypnotism of finding Noah's Ark and be done with it."

"How can you accept everything I just told you at face value?"

"It's the only logical thing I can think of. We have explored some of the most uncharted places in this world and we've encountered some gnarly sh*t. Mummies, god-creating machines, snakes that turn you to gold with a glance, and a stone that can make one immortal? It is not a stretch when you think about it. If you're being hypnotized then the only way to break the hypnotism is to find Noah's Ark. You may know the coordinates but you said there will be trials and life has taught us to never go alone. I'm going with you."

Tyler rolled his eyes and groaned. "Damn it. If Derek is going then Alec and I are going."

"No. Tyler, I-"

"Our orders are to protect you."

"Those are orders you gave yourselves."

"Even so, a soldier never leaves a man behind, or that woman's son behind." He looked at Alec. "You're with me, right?"

Alec nodded, without an eye roll or groan. "Yes."

Cassie could tell they weren't going to change their minds so she decided not to argue with them.

"I'm not going."

The Priest climbed to his feet and grabbed Bethany by the wrist. "I've been your friend for a long time, Cassie, but ifthisis a normal day for you as a treasure hunter, then I'm out. I have my niece to take care of." He looked at his niece. "We're going home."

"No," Bethany shouted. "I don't want to go home."

"I don't care what you want right now, Belinay, I say we're going home."

Bethany yanked at his hand, attempting to get her wrist back. "You're my uncle, not my father."

"I almost lost you, Belinay," the Priest spoke in a calm voice. "I've been busting my ass to keep you safe and going with these people to Mount Ararat is like painting a bullseye on the back of your head for the world's greatest sniper. I will not put you in danger."

"Uncle, what happened to me wasnotyour fault.Ichose not to fight back. When I saw you blow up that truck, you told me that God would understand, which is why I hit that guy with that metal tire thingy."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Cass is in trouble and God said that a shepherd has to protect its flock. Cassie-Blanca is in trouble and we must help her. If you're not going to protect your flock then I shall do it."

The Priest grabbed her wrist. "She can take care of yourself. We're going home."

"How stupid can you be?"

The Priest glared at her. "What did you just say to me?"

"Those guys who kidnapped me knew what school I go to and when I get there. I was thinking about this when I was tied up; if they knew me well enough to know what school I went to then they could possibly know where we live. And we made Tariq made so he might kill us." When the word 'kill' left her mouth, her heart pounded in her chest like a ticking time bomb and her confidence shattered. "I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT ROOM!" She grabbed her uncle's waist. "We're safer with Cassie and Derek and these two jarheads."

"SEALs" Alec corrected.

"PLEASE, UNCLE, I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT ROOM! IF WE GO BACK HOME, WE COULD GET SNATCHED AND CASSIE MIGHT NOT SAVE US! PLEASE!"

The Priest couldn't believe what he was hearing. The news he got from Tyler about his niece being kidnapped was the worst feeling he ever felt. His heart shattered at the thought of reliving that pain but it hurt ten times worse at the thought of Bethany going back to that room with a burlap sack over her head. If what his smart niece said was true, then it wouldn't be a stretch to assume the kidnapped might go for round two and if Cassie and the others were on Mount Ararat, then they stood no chance.

Protecting his niece was his number one priority and against a group of religious fanatics and a global terrorist group, he stood no chance. The only reason they managed to put up a fight at the warehouse was because of Tyler and Alec's military comrades but all but Tyler and Alec perished in the battle.

Please, God,the Priest begged in his head.Please, protect my niece.

A single tear fell from his cheek and he wiped it away.

"We'll protect her," Alec said suddenly and insistently. "I promise to protect her Father Uncle." He crossed his heart. "I swear on my heart."

A lump grew in his throat, forcing him to answer them with his head movement.

A nod.

Cassie shook her head. "No, none of you guys have to come with me," she practically begged. "I can take on Overlord and those Sunni Idiot guys all by myself. I'll make it back."

"Cassie," Derek called, "I am going with you because you need someone to watch your back. Tyler and Alec are going because they will watch my back. The Priest is going with us to watch his niece's back and Bethany is coming with us to watch your back. I think the vote is unanimous."

Cassie buried her face in the palm of her hands and wiped the ocean water out of her face and sighed.

Looks like it's going to be a full house.

Accepting that everyone was going with her and there was no talking them out of it, she nodded and looked at Derek.

"I hear that Mount Ararat is lovely this time of year."

Derek chuckled. "If you like the cold."

She narrowed her eyes.You still owe me a conversation as promised in the church.

Chapter 21: A Warm Feeling

Chapter Text

One Day Later

Mount Ararat

They had a one-day headstart on them but that was more than enough. Cassie and company drove back to the Priest's house to gather supplies along with the treasure box, which Cassie had put the second piece inside with the first. Since they were heading for the snow, they packed up all their winter gear and rode the mercenaries' plane as close to Mount Ararat as possible. Mount Ararat was a no-fly zone and a military plane flying over would terrify the life out of people below and most likely shoot the plane down.

They found a runway four miles away from Mount Ararat and they landed and walked the rest of the way there.

They found an alternate route to get onto the mountain without going past any guards watching it.

Climbing up the mountain for about a few hours, they decided to make camp near inside a cave.

Tyler and Alec started a fire with firewood they packed with them and heated the place up.

They were all wearing the same type of combat boots, gloves, and snow boots but they were each fitted with a different top. Cassie was wearing a blue and yellow parka while Derek was wearing a blue snow jacket. The Priest and Bethany donned matching heavy snow jackets that were black and white. Tyler and Alec were wearing snow camouflage.

Cassie felt her stomach growl and she held her gloved hands over the fire and she looked at Tyler.

He removed his backpack and pulled out lunch for the day.

Bethany picked up her lunch. "What's an MRE?"

Alec took the bag from her and held it up. "It's a 'Meal, Ready-to-Eat'," he answered. "This is the kind of stuff you would eat on a battlefield or in situations like this." He opens the bag for her. "There's coffee, Gatorade, chocolate, gum, goulash, crackers, everything to get you through the day." He pulled out the FRH. "This is a flameless ration heater that will warm your food up." He began warming up the goulash for her. "These meals were designed to give you the energy to get through the day. Honestly, if I was too lazy to cook, I would go out into my garage and take an out MRE for me to eat. They were mostly MREs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which was nice. I think I was living off of MREs for two consecutive years one time."

The goulash finished heating up.

He poured it into a bowl he brought with him and handed it over to Bethany.

Bethany had goulash before and eating warm food in this cold weather made her feel all tingly inside. "Thank you," she said with a mouthful of goulash.

"Don't mention it," Alec shrugged off.

"Do you have any nieces or nephews?"

Alec nodded. "I have four siblings. I have two nieces and three nephews altogether."

"How old are they?"

"The oldest is my niece, Lila, she's just turned twenty this year. And then there's..."

Cassie and Derek watched the exchange between Alec and Bethany and chuckled.

"I didn't know Alec had a soft side," Cassie says absentmindedly, "whenever I hear him, he mostly talks about wanting to kill people so to hear him say this..." She cut herself off by taking a spoonful of chicken noodle soup from the bowl in her hands.

"Tyler and Alec are both softies," Derek insisted, "you just have to be comfortable with them."

She nodded. "I'll say."

The Priest stopped himself from taking a bite of a protein bar to look at Tyler.

"You've killed people," he says like he's quoting a statistic. "Do you ever feel guilty?"

Tyler looked at the priest. "Ain't much time to feel guilt in a battlefield. When bullets are flying, you don't think about who the other person is or about their family, only to fire back before you die. The people I've killed back at the warehouse, I feel no remorse for them because they don't deserve it."

"I've killed," the Priest said, "just recently. I blew up a truck. I knew I was supposed to feel bad but I didn't; all I thought about was how easy it was to kill someone to protect my flock. I'm afraid that I'll lose the ability to feel remorse for my enemies."

"I feel remorse for the people I left behind back home. My girlfriend, my son, I stayed away from them to make sure I wouldn't hurt any of them or mistake them for a Taliban."

"Maybe God is helping you out," the Priest suggested. "Maybe God is helping you find the way to protect your flock."

"I don't believe in God."

"Even so, there's a force that helped you move away from your family to protect them." He grabbed Tyler's shoulder. "If you want my advice, however, go back to your family. Physically, you are protecting them but emotionally, you're hurting them."

"I'd rather them be alive and sad at me than dead and happy with me."

"Do you even know if your son is happy you're gone?"

"He's twenty-one," he said. "Last I heard, he went to Las Vegas to celebrate his birthday by gambling and drinking beer. I haven't seen him in so long since I almost killed the family dog." He looked down at his mug of coffee. "I don't belong in society anymore. I can be there for my son and girlfriend but at the end of the day, I can't function. I like to think of them as an island I visit occasionally before heading back to the mainland, ie, the life of a former SEAL." He looked in the Priest's direction but kept his head angled down. "Cherish the fact you have a little one to go home to because once you lose touch with your loved ones, it's goddamn hard to find your way back."

The Priest sneered when he heard the word 'goddamn'.

"Derek?" Cassie called. "Let's talk outside."

Derek nodded before finishing his meal and walking out of the cave with his hands shoved into his pockets.

They walked a dozen feet away from the cave to give themselves some privacy.

Derek sighed heavily and noticed that he could see his breath.

"You invited me out to talk," Derek pointed out, "I hope you hurry up so we can get back inside; I'm eager to heat up the hot chocolate I brought with me."

"I fulfilled my end of the deal," Cassie reminded, "now you fulfill your end of the deal and tell me what you're feeling, right?"

"What?"

"In the church, you promised to tell me why you insulted me at the school and everything you were feeling." She faced her shoulders to his. "You promised on Cousin Niko your ex's lives, and most important of all, you pinky promised." She held up her pinky.

Derek laughed. "Yeah. Okay, I'll tell you what's up."

"What were you feeling in the church?"

Derek sighs before putting his back to the rock wall beside him. He shifted uncomfortably when he felt a rock poke into his spine before he found the words to talk. "I like going on adventures with you, Cassie."

Cassie nodded in acknowledgment. "Yeah, it's fun going on adventures; looking for a lost city, traveling to different countries-"

"I thought you wanted me to talk?"

Cassie shut herself up.

"No," he continued, "I don't like going on adventures for sightseeing of exotic locations. I-" he choked up as he realized what words he was about to spill from his mouth. His face heated up a blush and he closed his eyes in embarrassment.

Damn it, DEREK!he yelled at himself.

"What?" Cassie asked.

Derek choked and squeezed his eyes shut together.

Just say it,Derek shouted to himself.Just say it and get it over with. It's not the end of the world!

He opened his mouth but he cried as he shut his mouth again.

Ah man, why does it feel like finding Noah's Ark WILL cause Judgment Day? Please, Noah, please, I-

"I like hanging out with you, CASSIE!" The words left his mouth faster than his mind could comprehend. His face burned hotter and the cold became non-existent all around him.

Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

"I like you, Cassie." He twiddled with his thumbs in his pockets. "I...have...feelings for you."

Cassie's breath left her. "About time you admit it."

Cassie's words fell on deaf ears. "I've wanted to tell you for so long but I'm a gutless weasel."

"Ditto."

Derek still couldn't hear the words. "Looking back, knowing that we go on so many dangerous adventures, that our luck could run out at any second, I felt worse and that every adventure I went on made me full of regret."

"Ditto."

"I feel like- I keep telling myself that I will confess sooner or later but there's an adventure we go on that gets in the way and I tell myself I will confess after but after the sh*tstorm we go through on a regular, I can't take it anymore. I-"

"Love you."

"Yeah." Derek's mind came back and he snapped his head towards Cassie. "What?"

"I love you," Cassie whispered. "I love you, Derek."

Derek shook his head. "No, I must be dreaming, I-"

"I'm in love with you, Derek." She grabbed his shoulder. "I've been in love with you for a long time; I could tell but I couldn't find the time or words."

Derek looked away. "I don't like killing people, even in self-defense. One of my biggest fears is that I'll become so accustomed to killing people that I'll forget how to love. I'm afraid that one day, I'll kill a surrendering enemy to keep you safe and you'll never love me back. I was mad at you because I was fearful of possibly losing my humanity in this adventure and killing in cold blood." He licked his lips and continued to stare at the ground. "I enjoy going on adventures with you because you're with me but I'm also afraid of losing you emotionally as much as physically."

Cassie touched Derek's chin with her forehead. "I'm sorry, D-Man." She closed her eyes. "I'm so sorry. I am-" She lost the words. "I am an adrenaline junkie... I love the thrill of risks going on this adventure. I have a lot of fun going on adventures like this. Whenever there's an adventure I go on all by myself, I wish that you were there with me to share it and I can't wait to tell you when I get the chance."

Derek managed a soft-hearted chuckle. "Are we compatible or incompatible?"

She shrugged. "I'm so in love with you, Derek." She grabs his cheek and makes him look at her. "And you're so tall."

Derek smiled at her. "Nah, you're just short."

Cassie laughed before grabbing the back of his head-

And kissed him.

Time paused for the two adventurers, the snow melting into warmth around them. Cassie stroked Derek's cheek and brushed a bang out of his eye. Once Cassie pulled away, her stomach fluttered with butterflies and she looked away awkwardly. Derek did the same and looked away, crossing his feet together nervously.

Cassie's moment of euphoria was interrupted when her ears picked up on something in the distance.

"What is that?" she asked aloud, looking in the direction the sound was coming from. She looked up in the sky and found a familiar figure flying in the sky.

"A helicopter," she pointed. When the helicopter flew over them, she saw an insignia on the side. "OVERLORD!"

The others rushed out of the cave armed with firearms waving aimlessly through the air.

"Where?" Tyler demanded.

Cassie ran out into the open and pointed at the helicopter flying towards the peak of the mountain.

"They have helicopters?!" Alex exclaimed. "What the hell?!"

"So it's true," the Priest whispered. "Overlordisgoing after Noah's Ark."

Cassie shook her head. "They found my notebook."

Helpless to do anything but watch the helicopter flying into the mountain, they looked at each other before-

"WOAH!" they all exclaimed.

The helicopter, torn in two, crashed into the mountain.

"Holy sh*t!" Tyler cursed.

"What the hell was that?!" Alec screamed.

Derek rubbed his eyes. "Was that actually..."

"Was that a giant dog?!" Bethany gulped.

"I've never..." the Priest panted.

"No," Cassie sighed, "I thought it wasn't real but..."

The Priest grabbed Cassie's shoulders. "What the hell kind of animal was that?"

"Oh, you mean that big animal that jumped from the ground all the way up into the air and cut that helicopter in half?" She rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Well... it's um... uh..."

"Spit it out."

"A giant wolf?"

Chapter 22: Fenrir Wolf

Chapter Text

"A giant wolf?"

The Priest didn't take took kindly to the answer he was hearing. He grabbed Cassie by the front of her parka and yanked her towards him.

"Youknewthere was a giant wolf in this mountain and you said nothing?" The Priest shoved her back. "If you think I'm-"

"You have nothing to worry about," Cassie assured, "in the vision, there were certain parts of the mountain that the wolves tended to avoid."

Tyler tilted his head. "'Wolves' as in plural?"

She nodded.

"How many giant wolves are there?"

She shrugged. "There's only one wolf big enough to jump from the ground to helicopter height while the others are infants."

Tyler shook his head.God must have a strange sense of humor if he is forcing me to make contact with an animal similar to the one I almost killed.

Cassie pointed up the mountain. "Follow my lead and we should be fine."

Derek thought of something. "Did you write about these giant wolves in your journal?"

She shook her head. "I figured that an animalthatlarge wouldn't survive with the oxygen levels as they are right now so I didn't write anything about it in my notebook."

Tyler snapped his fingers. "Which means that when Overlord comes on this mountain, they'll be woefully unprepared for these beasts."

"Just follow my lead and I'll take you to the parts of the mountains the wolves don't explore." She went back into the cave to retrieve her gears, the others following her example.

"Piece of advice for you: Don't stray from my path."

Alec rolled his eyes. "That goes without saying."

Cassie began walking. "Let's go."

Tyler and Alec co*cked their firearms and stood at the back of the group.

"Also, aim for the inside of their mouths."

Things could not have gone any worse for the Overlord soldiers in the middle of the mountain. Burak and Leyla took two platoons worth of Overlord soldiers with them on Mount Ararat, ready to overwhelm Drake and the others with their numerical advantage. They called in several helicopters for supply drops but every single one of them went missing as soon as they flew over the mountain.

Luckily, they had Avtoros Shaman 8x8 and snowmobiles to transport them.

Now dressed in an Overlord uniform, Arda spoke, "It's like we're in a snowfall version of the Bermuda Triangle. All our supply drop helicopters vanishing without a trace."

Hasan and Arda followed the group of Overlord soldiers up the mountain, shivering. The fifty-plus soldiers had jackets that could adapt to any temperatures but they were still feeling the effects so they were dressed in heavy snow jackets.

Arda looked at Hasan as he rubbed his gloved hands together. "Glad to be back in the ranks."

Hasan nodded slowly. "Y-yeah."

"Are you stuttering because you're cold or you're-

"C-cold," Hasan cut off.

"So, you're in 'regular' mode now?"

Hasan growled. "Shut up, A-Arda. I h-hate when you t-think I-I have some dis-disorder."

Arda narrowed his eyes. "I've known you for a long time, little brother, and I know what kind of person you are."

"S-shut up."

He grabs his brother's shoulder. "Someone kidnapped Belinay Sadik. I was confused as to who it was but when I looked over it, it made sense that my first guess was correct."

Hasan rolled his eyes.

"At the warehouse, the Sunni Islam arrived minutes before Overlord got there yet neither Overlord nor Sunni Islam claimed responsibility for kidnapping Sadik. However, you and I are the only ones with connections to both groups, me being an inside man for Sunni Islam with you being my brother. Tariq has interacted with Yagmur in the past and I told you about him."

Hasan looked at Arda.

"Youkidnapped Belinay Sadik and when you left a chip in the warehouse that would detect intruders, you contacted Sunni Islam through my contacts and then Overlord through your own contacts." He leaned his face in. "Why would you kidnap her?"

Hasan looked away. "Does it matter?"

Arda nodded.

"Why?"

"I know you got anger problems little brother but taking your anger out on a girl isnotthe way to go. What were you going to do to her?"

"Torture her to insanity," Hasan hissed. "It's only fair a thirteen-year-old like her suffer like I did when I was thirteen years old."

"That was years ago, little brother," he reprimanded.

"Doesn't change the fact that what happened to us happened." He looked at Arda. "Have you forgotten what those rebels did to our parents? Have you forgotten all those people that were slaughtered before us? Hm? Have you forgotten what they did to us?!"

Arda nodded. "I think about it every day."

"If you and I were forced to watch our friends and family get slaughtered in front of us while being beaten within an inch of our lives for days on end, it's only fair that Belinay Sadik and everyone goes through the same thing." He smiles. "After all, Overlord is about fairness."

Arda shook his head. "You're looking at Overlord's objective in a twisted way. Yes, we are about creating a fair world for all and it wasn't fair what happened to us but it's also not fair to put people through the same kind of torture."

"Keeps things fair if I did."

"Belinay did nothing to you."

"And we did nothing to those rebels."

Arda glared at him, angry written across his face before it disappears and is replaced with a sad look. "I joined Overlord so I can get rid of all sad*stic torturers in this world."

"There willalwaysbe evil in this world, big brother. Anyone who tries to rid the world of evil is stupid so rather than get rid of evil, we accept that evil is a natural occurrence. I joined Overlord for the sole purpose of doing what was done to us on other people."

"You have a sick and twisted mind."

Hasan nodded. "I do."

"You set Overlord and Sunni Islam up to kill each other and you planned on torturing a thirteen-year-old."

He's full of rage,Arda assessed.He doesn't care about fairness; he wants people to suffer because of what happened to him.He remembered a quote his mother told him. 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'It was quoted from the bible but in that case, I'll do the reverse. If Hasan wants to make the entire world suffer, I shall make him-

"WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!"

Hasan and Arda looked ahead as a soldier came running down the hill. They recognized him as the soldier that was sent to scout ahead in advance. He was sprinting towards them, looking over his shoulder as if he was being chased by something, and slowed to a stop in front of Burak and Leyla.

"What's going on, soldier?" Leyla demanded.

The soldier was stuttering so much that his breath could be seen with each stutter. "B-big, BIG!"

"Big what?"

"W-wolf. WOLF!"

"Big wolf?" Leyla repeated.

A soldier laughed mockingly. "Big bad wolf?" The other soldiers laughed.

The soldier pointed in the direction he came. "Big! Giant! Wolf!"

The mocking soldier pointed behind the stuttering soldier. "You mean that wolf?"

A short distance away, a wolf was approaching them slowly, staring into the mocking soldier's eyes with its beady yellow ones. It charged for them.

"Aww, big bad wolf indeed." The mocking soldier spread his arms. "Come to papa wolf."

The wolf jumped at him. The mocking soldier punched it in the snout before pulling out a gun to shoot it in the head.

He looked at the stuttering soldier. "Yeah,realscary."

Burak and Leyla looked at the stuttering soldier.

"Get your head out of your ass, soldier," Burak ordered, "or Iwillfeed you to the wolves."

The stuttering soldier pointed a twitching finger in front of him and behind Burak's back.

"What?"

A soldier went wide-eyed and shouted, "MUSTAFA, WATCH OUT!"

A four-legged creature with black fur, razor-sharp claws, and wide yellow eyes stared down at the platoon of soldiers from a hilltop with saliva drooling from its mouth, its paper-white fangs bared for all the soldiers to see. Without hesitation, it snatched the mocking soldier and swallowed him whole before he had any time to scream.

"Giant wolf!"

"Open fire!"

The soldiers opened fire on the giant wolf, switching their firearms to automatic and not bothering to conserve ammo, and taking intervals to prevent overhead.

The giant wolf barely reacted to the bullets bouncing off his body and opted to stay here while he waited.

A small army of adolescent giant wolves hidden behind the giant wolf came out of hiding and charged at the soldiers.

From a distance, the adolescent wolves looked like regular-sized wolves but when they got within ten feet of the soldiers, they saw that they were the size of an adult male and their jaws were big enough to bite off a human's arm up to the elbow.

A soldier was overwhelmed by three adolescent wolves and collapsed on his back. The wolves bit into him and painted the snow around him red with his blood.

A soldier with a shotgun hit a wolf in the head and knocked it back but the wolf got back and snapped its jowls at the shotgun barrel.

A group of soldiers gathered around the superiors to protect while simultaneously backing away.

One of the soldiers in front of Burak was swept off his feet and overwhelmed with three wolves.

"Fall back," Leyla ordered.

"Fall back," Burak repeated. He looked around him to see that a quarter of the soldiers were already dead. He looked back at the snowmobiles they came with. "On the snowmobiles."

Burak grabs Leyla by the hand and drags her to a snowmobile.

Once they were both on, he started up the snowmobile and drove off.

Hasan and Arda climbed on the next snowmobile and hightailed it out of there, five more snowmobiles with two soldiers each following after their superiors.

The soldiers that stayed behind ran for the Avtoros Shaman 8x8 all-terrain vehicles and attempted to drive out. There were four of them both only two managed to fill up with eight soldiers each and get out while the others were left to the wolves.

The 8x8 vehicles took off in a different direction from the snowmobiles to give their superiors a fighting chance and focused on the giant wolves chasing after them. The 8x8 vehicles had a turret gun in the back built thirteen years ago called the MG-225 that fired high caliber rounds. A soldier mounted the turret and fired at the wolves. This seemed to be doing the trick as the adolescent wolves chasing after them were being cut in half with their body parts spewing across the snowy surface and cutting the numbers down.

The giant wolf chased after them. The soldier manning the turrets in both trucks opened fire, each having the hive mind to focus their attacks on the heart area. Once again, the giant wolf barely reacted. When both soldiers aimed for the wolf's feet, the wolf decided to take action.

It leaped high into the air and came crashing down on the first 8x8, reducing it to a pile of totaled car parts.

The remaining 8x8 focused on driving out of there instead of running and gunning. The turret soldier continued to spray bullets at the creature but it seemed to be hopeless. He aimed the turret up towards the creature's eyes and opened fire. The giant wolf held its head down like a student in shame and chased after them.

The giant wolf waited for its time to strike and leaped over the 8x8. The truck tried to halt to a stop but it crashed into the wolf's paws so hard that the back went flying upward. The giant wolf held a paw down at the back of the truck and snapped its teeth at it, grabbing the turret soldier and swallowing him in one gulp. After it was done swallowing the soldier, it flipped the truck on the top and pressed down with both paws.

The truck began caving in with the windows cracking, metal falling apart, and soldiers screaming in agony.

The soldier in the passenger's seat climbed out the busted window before the 8x8 was crushed into the ground. He ran as fast as he could to get away from the creature, despite knowing how futile it was.

"I don't want to die!" he cried as he was cornered at the edge of a cliff. "No one kills me but me!" Without even thinking, he jumps over the cliff just as the giant wolf caught up to him.

He thought that he would fall to his death but the soldier fell short and landed on a cliff protruding from the mountain. He landed on his back, the window knocked out of him. Once he felt the pain ease away, he picked himself up and looked at where he was sitting.

"I'm alive!" he cried with joy. "I'm alive!"

The giant wolf let out a howl that sounded like an inhuman roar that echoed throughout the mountains, sending chills down the soldier's neck. The giant wolf leaped over the edge and landed on the same cliff as the soldier. Rather than crush the soldier under its paws, the cliff broke under the wolf's weight and sent both the wolf and soldier falling into an abyss.

Cassie stopped with a gasp, the hairs on the back of her neck spiking.

"Did anyone else hear the howl?"

Chapter 23: Ava-Avalanche!

Chapter Text

"Okay, did anyone else hear that howl?"

When Cassie didn't get an answer the first time around, she repeated the question. She understood why she received no answer when she saw her companions shivering in their boots and not from the cold.

Tyler broke the silence. "I've killed wolves and dogs before but no such creature howls that loud."

Derek nodded. "Only creatures that make that sound are creatures hidden from the world from my experience."

The Priest looked at Cassie. "You better not be walking us into an ambush; I will haunt you if you're the death of me."

Cassie tilted her head. "I didn't know you believed in ghosts."

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Bethany asked in a begging voice.

She nodded. "Yes; my visions told me to stay on the west and northwest side of the mountain. And to aim for the inside of their mouths."

"Why?"

"They have thick skin on the outside to protect themselves from elements but their interior is their weakness, as they have no armor built up so a well-aimed shot to the inside of their mouths should hit them. The giant one can be taken out if it swallows a large explosive device."

The Priest shook his head. "Why do they stay away from the northwest side of the mountain is what my niece was asking."

Bethany looked at her uncle. "No, I was asking why to aim for their mouths."

Cassie sighed. "I'll answerbothof your questions; the northwest side of the mountain is directly linked to Noah's Ark. The power of Noah's Ark is also keeping the giant wolves away from us."

"This is getting bizarre," Alec commented.

"It doesn't take much to cognize this redundancy but can we stop with this egregious garrulousness already?" Tyler pointed to the top of the mountain. "We still have to make it to the top to reach Noah's Ark."

Cassie pointed at the mountain. "Right. Let's not waste any more time."

They continued their hike up the mountain, procrastinating no longer. They walked for the better part of an hour up the mountain before they came to a dead end. The dead-end was a rock wall that lead upward with no alternate route. The only route they could take would lead them to the opposite side of the mountain where the wolves are.

"Let's climb up," Derek ordered. "I'll climb up first and then I'll scope the place out."

"Remember, if you see one of the giant wolves, aim for the inside of their mouths," Cassie reminded, "that should be able to kill them."

"Killing Giant Wolves 101," Alec laughed.

Derek climbed up the wall using his similar Drake-style freehand rock climbing skills and reached the top. He scoped the place out with his pistol before deeming the place to be clear.

Derek threw the end of his grappling hook down and helped pull the Priest and Bethany up.

"Such a beautiful mountain," Tariq commented as he stared up the mountain, taking in the view before him. "Such a beautiful, beautiful mountain." He points at the top. "If what my friend, Arda, said is true, then he should be heading up to the mountain."

A few miles down the mountain, Tariq stood before the surviving twelve Sunni Islam members. It felt lonely without Arda there and he missed his presence. He's known these people for several years but none of them shared a close connection with him then Arda and he was on the mountain looking for Noah's Ark.

"It's probably a trick," a Sunni Islam member spoke, "why would that traitor give us his current location."

Tariq took out a knife and pressed it to the man's throat. "Don't ever talk about Arda like that!" he yelled in his face. "Arda may be on the other side but he is still my best friend." He pulled the knife away from him. "I saw the look in his eyes; he was crying for help."

"What do you mean?"

"He begged and pleaded for Burak and Leyla to spare me from death. When I was on the ground as he was begging, I saw the look of despair in his eyes. He was crying for help. We're going to follow Overlord up to the mountain and kill them all."

"What about the Priest and Bethany and those two Americans?"

"Overlord will kill them for us." Tariq holstered his knife. "Let us climb up this mountain. Follow Overlord and wait for our moment to strike." He ran over to his snowmobile and put his helmet on. "Ride, Sunni Islam."

He started up his snowmobile and the thirteen Sunni Islamists climbed up the mountain.

When they were sure they were out of sight of the giant wolves, the Overlord soldiers pulled up to the side and parked their snowmobiles against a rock wall.

Burak and Leyla dismounted and looked down the mountain. Four more snowmobiles pulled up to them with a Hasan and Arda dismounting.

Hasan raised a hand and pointed it in the direction they came from. "D-Did y-you g-guys s-s-see t-t-that?"

"Stuttering Hasan is back," Arda deadpanned. "Of COURSE we saw that, Hasan, why else would we run for our lives?"

"The others," a soldier named Refik panted, "we left them behind; what are we going to do?"

Leyla took charge. "We continue the mission." She looks around and counts the number of soldiers present. "There's ten of us in total and we still have an hour's worth of a climb with the snowmobiles. Our plan is this: Alpha Team will continue hiking up the mountain while Beta Team will stay here and look for survivors; we leave no man behind."

Refik shook his head. "With those giant wolves out there, that sounds like a bad idea, ma'am."

Leyla shot him a glare. "Are you looking for a Code Black, private?"

Refik shook his head.

"Then fall in line."

Refik saluted her. "Yes, ma'am!"

"Sergeant Hasan, Sergeant Arda, Corporal Bedrettin, you're with me and Lieutenant Uzun. Everyone else, reunite with the survivors."

The soldiers nodded.

As the soldiers prepared to depart, Burak looked at his wife with a smirk.

"Damn, honey," he whispered seductively, "I like it when you take charge."

Leyla blushed but did not let it discomfort her. "I know."

Burak was about to whisper something kinky in her ear when he spotted something down the mountain. He pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked down the mountain. It looked like-

"Sunni Islam," he hissed. He handed the binoculars to his wife. "They're still chasing after us." He looked over to Arda to see him preoccupied with assessing his brother for wounds. He shook his head disappointingly. "He said that Tariq won't be a problem anymore." He turned to the soldiers. "Enemy incoming."

The soldiers looked down the mountain.

"We have hostile forces climbing up the mountain." He pointed at the binoculars in his wife's hand. "I verified it myself. Set off several grenades; we'll bury them in an avalanche."

The soldiers saluted Burak before they ran to a snow-covered hill a few feet below them, setting up four pounds of C4 across the ground. It was Corporal Bedrettin who put the C4 down last held up the detonator and got clear.

"Looks like even atheists are going to be singing their prayers right now," Bedrettin laughed and pushed the button.

Seven snowmobiles, each with two soldiers on the back, had escaped the wolves' grasp, but only five of them managed to stay with the group. The two snowmobiles drifted off to the side of the mountain, uncoordinated in trying to stay with the group and opted to just run with it. They figured since they were battling something larger than life then it was every man for themself.

Cassie climbed up the wall, grabbing handholds as she went along before she was three handholds away from the top.

Derek got down on his stomach and reached an arm out. Cassie grabbed it and, even though they were touching with gloved hands, could feel the warmth from the other's palm.

Cassie looked up at Derek's blushing face before turning away, blushing herself.

I can never look at Derek the same way,she told herself.

"You are so beautiful." Derek covered his mouth with his free hand, shocked at what words left his mouth.

Cassie was snapped out of her thoughts as she looked into Derek's eyes. She never realized how beautiful he looked. Everything about him was perfect.

His curly brown hair, his smooth skin, his hazel-brown eyes, his ears, that scar on his back.

Cassie remembered the scar she carved on the back of her hand when Derek was feeling self-conscious about his permanent back scar.

The two snowmobiles pulled up to the group, stopping only twenty feet away and drawing their guns.

"Freeze," the soldiers shouted.

Tyler and Alec turned and aimed their guns at them.

The soldiers aimed at Bethany and the Priest on top.

"Make a single move and we'll kill you all," the lead soldier warned. He pointed at Cassie. "Drake, I want you to-"

Cassie drew her gun and Derek drew his pistol with his free hand.

"We're evenly matched," Cassie told them. She suddenly became aware of how exposed she was because she was still climbing the rock wall.

"Don't underestimate us," the soldier said with pride. "We may be evenly matched, but the six of you are f-"

BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!

The soldiers flopped dead on the ground.

"Watch your cursing," Alec scolded, "there is a five-year-old with us."

Bethany scoffed and shouted, "I'm thirteen."

"You have the height to be a five-year-old."

"I'm notthatshort."

Derek chuckled. "You going to climb up?" Derek asked.

Cassie smiled at him. "Yeah."

She grabs the top of the rock wall and pulls herself up to her chest. When she got a secured footing, she looked ahead to see something coming. It didn't look like anything at first but when she narrowed her eyes, she thought she got a better look, only because it was coming straight for them...

Along with the heavy sounds of rumbling.

Her eyes went wide. "Ava-avalanche!"

Derek looked over his shoulder and saw the fifty-foot tall avalanche coming for them. In the panic he failed to keep in check, he lost his grip on Cassie's hand and she went pummeling to the bottom.

"Cassie!" Derek cried.

"Get out of here!" Cassie urged. When she realized that the avalanche would close in on her before she would get up the rock wall, she looked at the snowmobiles. "Run!"

Derek looked at the Priest and Bethany, both were shivering at the sight of the avalanche before Bethany pointed to something in the corner.

"Get in the cave!" Derek shouted. "Hurry!" He grabbed Bethany and the Priest and dragged them away. "Into the conveniently located-next-to-us cave."

Cassie jumped onto the first snowmobile and revved it up. "Uncle Sam taught me how to ride a motorcycle; same basic concept." She remembered a certain duo. "Tyler, Alec!"

Tyler jumped onto the second snowmobile, Alec climbing on after him, and started it up.

They took off before the avalanche could bury them but they were not out of the woods yet.

They put everything they had into the snowmobile, determined to outrun that freaky disaster by any means necessary, and the steeper they went down the mountain, the faster both the snowmobile and avalanche chased after them.

Cassie had hit a bad patch of snow that caused her to slow down, causing Tyler and Alec to get ahead of her but she knew better than to consider this a race. If either one of them faltered then all three would die.

When the rumbling of the avalanche grew in volume, she looked behind her and suppressed a scream when she discovered that the avalanche was feet away from trampling her. She kept her hand where it was on the throttle, not changing positions even for half a second and kept her gaze forward.

Hours of hiking all for nothing because of this avalanche; we're heading back to the bottom.

They flew over a small hill just as the avalanche was about to bury them. Tyler and Alec steered off to the side, narrowly avoiding the avalanche by a hairsbreadth but the avalanche was insistent on burying Cassie in its snow.

Tariq and his crew were climbing up the mountain on their snowmobiles with determination when they saw a figure fly off a hill in front of them and straight for them. Tariq recognized this figure with their dirty blonde hair.

Cassie Drake.He smirked.I guess I'll kill her and be done with-

The fifty-foot avalanche roared and it soared over the small hill and fell towards them.

sh*t!

Tariq and Sunni Islam perform U-turns as quickly as possible with Cassie already having a headstart on them.

The Sunni Islamist in the far back was swallowed before he made a complete U-turn.

The avalanche chased the snowmobile riders down the mountain, picking up more and more snow along the way and causing the mountain to shake. It started throwing rocks forward that hit one of the Sunni Islamists in the back and knocked him off his vehicle, subsequently swallowing him.

Two snowmobiles crashed into each and caused the other to slow, which made them get swallowed whole by the mountain of snow.

No,Tariq thought fearfully in his head.It's not supposed to end like this.

He turned his head around to see the avalanche gulp down the remaining Sunni Islamists monsters like it was having a snack.

It can't end like this,he cried.I did all this to protect people from the disgusting ambitions of treasure hunters and it ends like this?

Cassie was ahead of Tariq by ten feet; she knew that Tariq, a human, would give in and either break off or get eaten by the avalanche, but the avalanche was nature and nature does not give up.

Cassie and Tariq cut through two rocks and sail straight through a canyon.

sh*t,I shouldn't be in tight spaces!Cassie desperately looked for a way out of this small canyon.There could be a dead-end below.

Speak of the devil.

Man, I've made so many correct predictions I'm practically a precog.

At the bottom of the canyon was nothing but a rock wall twenty feet high.

Cassie shook her head in panic. She tried to look for an alternate route but the only place to go was forward.

How the hell am I supposed to climb out of h-hello!

Cassie smiled.

She took out her grappling hook and threw it to the branch dangling precariously over the edge and jumped off, the speed from the snowmobile transferring into her jump and sending her flying up into the air.

Tariq's snowmobile crashed into a rock and sent him flying forward. He didn't see the dead-end until he stopped rolling forward. He quickly picked himself up and looked at the incoming avalanche. He backed as far into the rock wall as possible, feeling his heart pound in his chest, and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"SAVE ME, GOD!"

The avalanche crushed him against the wall.

Cassie leaped off the grappling hook and to the top of the canyon to her right, grabbing hold of a handhold before it broke off. She took out her climbing piton and quickly stabbed it into the wall, stopping her descent just as the avalanche finished filling up the canyon.

Cassie waited a few seconds after the rumbling stop before she pulled herself up the wall until she was on flat, snow ground once more.

She could do nothing but go over the thoughts in her head as she sat on her knees but her thoughts were flowing far faster for her to comprehend so she decided to give herself a break and scream her thoughts out.

"HOW THE HELL DID I SURVIVE THAT?!"

Chapter 24: Switching Off

Chapter Text

"HOW THE HELL DID I SURVIVE THAT?!"

Cassie pulled herself out of the snow and hugged herself tightly around her chest. She looked in front of her to see signs of snowmobiles sticking out of the snow. The temperature around her suddenly dropped when she realized that she had just narrowly avoided being crushed to death by a mountain of snow. She would've counted herself lucky but she considered herself to be lucky with a bittersweet flavor.

"I spent hours hiking up this mountain and because of this avalanche, I'm stuck at the near bottom with giant wolves the size of the Statue of Liberty trying to eat me. What else could happen?"

She decided that she didnotwant to spend several more hours hiking up this mountain and was more than happy to drive up as she had driven down the mountain.

She climbs down into the pits of the mountain of deep snow and reaches for one of the snowmobiles sticking out of the snow. She yanks it up and starts revving it up only for the engine to stall. She grumbles before shoving it back into the snow.

"I amnotclimbing up this mountain after this avalanche threw me off routine."

She waddles through the snow searching for more snowmobiles sticking out of the ground. When she acquired a second snowmobile, she pulled it out of the ground and the engine didn't make so much as a whisper.

After finding the third snowmobile, she started it up and cheered when she heard the sounds of the engine come to life.

"Hell yeah!" she cheered.

She dragged it over to solid ground before she climbs on top of it and rides up the mountain, staying as on the northwest side of the mountain as possible.

"Gotta find Tyler and Alec," she told herself, "I didn't see them when the snow crushed these guys so I better make sure they got out alive."

She pulled up to the top of the hill opposite where she last heard of Tyler and Alec's snowmobile and dismounted. She looked to the opposite side of the hill to see Tyler and Alec with their snowmobile intact.

She waved to them.

They waved back.

"Good to see you made it!" Cassie shouted.

"We still have orders to follow!" Tyler shouted. "We're heading back."

"Alright; see you there." Cassie climbed on her snowmobile before it stalled on her. "Damn it!"

Tyler and Alec saw that something was wrong with Cassie's vehicle so they drove up and across the hill to meet up with her.

"What's wrong with your snowmobile?" Alec asked as he climbed off.

"It's stalling on me." She tried revving the vehicle up once more.

Alec stroked his chin. "Let me take a look at it."

Alec remembered how he hung out with his crew back at the warehouse and they would take turns fixing the plane and were covered in grease at the end of the day.

Tyler gets off his snowmobile and watches Alec work his magic before his keen ears pick up something.

What is that?

He unholsters his M4 Carbine and steps away from his vehicle and aims at the cliff behind Cassie and Alec.

He walked around the duo as they focused on fixing Cassie's stalled snowmobile and listens for the sound his ears picked up. He edges closer to the cliff and upon reaching said cliff, points his barrel down to search for hostiles.

The cliff lead into an abyss but he could see the bottom. A giant boulder the size of a door was now the size of an ant from his perspective.

Alec tapped the front of the snowmobile. "There ya go, patched it up."

Cassie revved up the snowmobile. "How the hell did you do that?"

Alec shrugs. "I used to work as a mechanic." He turns back to his snowmobile. "Tyler, let's go."

Tyler keeps searching down the canyon.

"Tyler," Cassie yells.

Tyler sighs.

It's nothing.

He holsters his gun away when-

The giant wolf jumped up from the canyon and took Tyler in its mouth in one gulp.

Cassie and Alec screamed in terror before climbing on their snowmobiles and driving out of there.

The giant wolf plants its paws into the snowy ground and hoists itself upon the solid ground before its weight caused the ground beneath it to shift and send the wolf back down into the canyon.

As Cassie and Alec were driving up the mountain, Alec shouted across the field, "What the hell was that?"

"The giant wolf from my vision," Cassie answered with a yell back, "I wasnotpicturing it to bethatgigantic!"

"It ate Tyler in one gulp!"

"Do you think I need glasses to see; I saw that!"

Although I am wearing contacts right now.

"I thought you said they only stay on the east side of the mountain!"

"They do; unless they chase prey onto the other side of the mountain!"

"Anything else you want to tell us or should I sprinkle a little seasoning on me so I taste good for the titanic wolf?"

Cassie couldn't think in her current state and shouted, "No!"

"I'm going to kill you if you leaveanythingout, Cassie!"

Cassie glared at him.

I haven't forgotten when you tried to hit me on the plane.

Cassie and Alec continued to climb up the mountain, unaware of the giant wolf finally finding his footing and climbing back on the mountain, bloody remains dangling from its teeth from its most recent kill.

Cassie and Alec pull up to where they drove off to begin with before the avalanche hit. They forgot about the rock wall they had to climb earlier and quickly abandoned them to climb up the wall.

Upon reaching the top, they called out for the others several times before seeing them emerge from the cave.

Derek came out first with the Priest tugging on his niece by the hand, shivering.

"You abandoned us," Derek joked. "Are we dead weight?" He notices the absence of someone. "Where's Tyler?"

Cassie was about to answer when she felt a knotted tangle in her chest made her hesitate.

Alec held his head down. "I wish I could've collected his dog tags."

Derek's eyes went wide. "What?"

"He was devoured by a giant wolf," Cassie confirmed, "thegiant wolf."

Derek shook his head. "Damn it." He thought of his mother. "My mother served with that guy and he's dead? Did he at least die a hero's death?"

Alec shook her head. "He switched off and was eaten alive." Then he shrugs. "All the more reason for none of us to switch off in return."

The Priest took his turn to speak up. "How did you guys escape the avalanche?"

"The snowmobiles," Cassie answered. "We barely escaped the avalanche." She remembered the guys she intercepted on the way down. "I think Tariq was here with his guys because there was a small army of snowmobiles climbing up the mountain."

"What happened to Tariq?"

"The avalanche got hungry and ate him."

Alec laughed. "At least that's one problem dealt with."

"Yep," Derek agreed. "Time for the final boss - Overlord."

Cassie pointed down the rock wall. "There are two snowmobiles down below. We could probably winch them up if we use the grappling hooks to hoist them up."

Derek chuckled. "Do you know how heavy a snowmobile is?"

Cassie put a hand on her hip. "What, afraid you won't be able to lift it without my help?"

"No! Just concerned with who's going to be driving and how all five of us are going to fit on two snowmobiles."

Bethany raised her hand like a student in class. "I'm small so I can fit in between two people."

Alec pointed at her. "Smart third grader."

"Why do you keep belittling me?" Bethany yelled.

Alec laughed. "It's easy."

Bethany chuckled, "You're mean."

Without wasting another second, Cassie climbed down the rock wall after taking Derek's grappling hook. Once she tied the hooks around the skis of the snowmobile she came on, she threw the ropes up to the men and climbed back up. They hoisted the snowmobile up, two people yanking on each rope at the same time like in tug-of-war with Bethany acting as the spotter. They put all their strength into yanking up the snowmobile and screamed in agony at the feeling of their muscles tearing, their faces flushing red.

They successfully hoisted the snowmobile up the rock wall and once they assured their victory, the four of them fell on their back, their chests heaving off the ground.

"One down..." Alec wheezed, "one to go."

They moved the snowmobile off to the side before yanking the second snowmobile up, albeit at a slower pace with their muscles still aching in their limbs.

The first thing they did when they finished hoisting both vehicles up was rest on the ground and let their breaths catch up to them. Cassie tried climbing on the snowmobile but fell short and landed on her ass with her back pressed to the snowmobile.

"Man," Bethany tsked, "you guys are lazy."

Cassie pointed a shaky finger at the young girl. "Says the girl who did nothing but spots the snowmobiles."

"Hey, a spotter is important in the career of weightlifting; you'd guys never raise the bar without me."

"And you called us the lazy ones."

They waited two minutes for their breaths to catch up before they all found their footing.

"I'll ride," Derek insisted as he climbed onto Cassie's snowmobile.

"Still having trust issues I see."

Derek looked at her solemnly. "Hell yeah, Cassie-Blanca."

Cassie climbed onto the back and wrapped her arms around his waist. She pulled her hands away slowly when she felt her gloved hands touch Derek's jacket. She knew that there was electricity running through Derek's body but just the mere touch of him sent shivers down her spine.

It is such a different sensation touching him knowing that...

She looks at the back of his head.

I'm so in love with you, Derek.

"WOLF!"

Cassie looked over her shoulder to see wolves leaping up from the bottom of the rock wall and landing in front of the snowmobiles.

Cassie took out her pistol and fired into the wolf as it opened its mouth to snarl. The wolf howled in pain before it fell over, leaking blood from the mouth.

"Holy crap," Cassie gasped.

"Is that the giant wolf?" Bethany asked with a shaky voice.

Cassie narrowed her eyes. "No, it's not the same wolf that ate Tyler; that one was like fifty feet tall."

Bethany looked away from the wolf. "So it's like Fenrir from Norse mythology?"

"Less talking," Derek interrupted, "more snowmobiling." He started up his snowmobile.

Alec picked up Bethany and planted her on the back of the snowmobile. Alec was about to take the driver's seat when he was yanked from the side by his arm and went falling to the ground.

One of the adolescent wolves snuck up on Alec and was biting at his arm while on the ground. Cassie and Derek aimed their guns and fired at the wolf in the eyes. The wolf howled and turned away. Alec pushed himself up and aimed his assault rifle for the wolf's throat. He fires off several rounds in the creature's neck before shoving it back. It snapped at him, opening its mouth to take a bite when a single bullet from Alec's firearm shot through the inside of his mouth and put the wolf down.

The Priest climbed onto the empty snowmobile and started it up. "Get on Alec!"

Another wolf snuck upon them. Alec spotted it and shot it in its open mouth. "I don't think so."

Another wolf jumped up the wall and ran for him. He shot it in the mouth. That dead wolf was replaced with another...

...and another...

...they just kept coming.

"Get out of here!" Alec shouted before quickly reloading.

"Alec, climb on," Bethany begged. "Please."

"I'm a soldier, expendable to society." He popped a wolf in the mouth. "My orders are to protect you guys so give me this one chance to go out like a badass."

Cassie was about to get off her snowmobile to help him when Derek took off like he was accepting his fate. The Priest followed Derek's example and drove off with Bethany reaching out to Alec while calling his name.

Alec kept firing at the incoming wolves, killing a total of twelve if his count was accurate. The wolves were jumping up the rock wall with some and backing him into a corner. He reached for another magazine clip when he found his pouch to be empty. He threw his firearm away and backed away, nearly tripping in the snow. He quickly drew his pistol and fired at the wolves. When he emptied his first clip, he reached for another mag before catching something in the corner of his eyes.

The cave that Derek, the Priest, and Bethany hid in when the avalanche hit.

I'll take my chances in there.

He turns to run but doesn't get far.

An object as heavy as a large boulder hits him in the back and pushes him deep in the snow. The wind escaped his lungs and he was left panting in the ground, clutching his side before rolling on his back.

His eyelids peeled as far back as they could go when he gazed at the sight before him.

The giant wolf was standing before him, looking down at him with yellow eyes and bloodstains on its fangs. It had knocked him into the ground with its paw and staring at him menacingly ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

Never in his four years as a SEAL and seventeen years as a mercenary has he seen an enemy of this proportion. Never had he been looked down at by a creature with soulless yellow eyes with nothing but ravenous bloodthirsty intent before. He gasped for air and choked when it felt like his heart leaped out of his chest and got caught in his throat. All rationale left Alect and all he could do was stare at this monstrous beast, the only part of him making a movement of any kind was his heart.

To have a heart attack right now would be mercy right now.

The adolescent wolves closed in on the downed Alec, which he noticed in the corner of his eyes.

"NO!" he cried in horror.

They pounced on him, burying their fangs into his flesh and ripping at his skin. They started off at the forearms before moving closer in the body and started going for his stomach.

Alec cried in agony when he felt them rip his stomach open.

"HELP ME!" Alec cried. "PLEASE! AGH!" He shuts his eyes and feels his throat start to rasp but that doesn't stop him from crying out his next sentence.

"STOP IT, DADDY! I'M SORRY, DADDY! I WON'T DO IT AGAIN! PLEASE STOP! ALEXA, MOMMY, HELP ME!"

The wolves continued to devour their prey, tearing into him like a piece of steak, showing the human no mercy.

The giant wolf stared down at the adolescent wolves gnawing at its prey, its yellow eyes devoid of emotion.

Except for rage.

Chapter 25: At The Top

Chapter Text

Derek pulled hard on the throttle, keeping up the pace for as long as he could. He was tempted to look over his shoulder but told himself that he didn't need to because Cassie was the eyes in the back of his skull.

Cassie panted Derek on the back, urging him, "Keep driving, Derek, stop for nothing."

Derek eventually comes to a point where he has to slow the snowmobile down so he can get his bearings. He pulls up the side of the mountain and waves for the Priest to slow down his snowmobile. With both vehicles halted, Cassie took the time to reload her pistol.

"Did you hear that scream?" The Priest asked.

Bethany nodded behind him. "They got Alec."

Cassie sighed and covered her eyes. "Son of a bitch." She rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand. "We lost Tyler and Alec already? Son of a bitch."

Derek turned around and grabbed her shoulder. "We can't afford to mourn them; we need to get to Noah's Ark immediately."

Cassie looked at him. "Your friends are dead and that's all you have to say?"

Derek felt his throat clog with a lump. "Tyler and Alec said we can't get emotional on a battlefield and as long as there are wolves out there… we'll be on a battlefield." He turned away. "We couldn't collect any of their dog tags…" his voice cracked, "my mother's teammates… all of them dead."

His face turned red and tears started rolling down his cheeks. Cassie wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him on the back of the neck. "I'm sorry."

Derek grabbed her hand, which was positioned on his stomach. "Thank you."

Bethany looked over her shoulder in the direction they left Alec, the reality of what happened sinking in like a knife. She felt sick and felt herself gag at the thought of him being torn apart. She covers her mouth and forces herself to swallow vomit when it erupts in her mouth. She spits some bile out in the snow before catching something in the corner of her eye.

One of the adolescent wolves caught up to them and was charging for them.

"Wolf!" Bethany called out.

Cassie turned and shot the wolf in the mouth. "Get us out of here!"

Derek revved up the vehicle and throttled it, the Priest following after.

Haha,Cassie laughed in her head,I was running down the hill to get away from an avalanche and now I'm climbing up the hill to avoid getting devoured by a giant wolf.

More wolves started chasing after them, picking up speed as they went.

Luckily, I know it takes only one shot to the inside of your mouth to kill you.Cassie co*cks her pistol.I'm going to save a lot of ammo.

Cassie fires at the wolves that open their mouths, not an easy task with Derek being in control of the snowmobile. Derek was gracious enough to let the Priest and Bethany get ahead of them while Cassie was at the front line in the far back of the wolf attack.

She fires off several more rounds, killing several more wolves. When she felt her gun jam, she quickly removed the shell casing trapped in the chamber before continuing to fire.

"For the love of God, how many wolves are there?!"

A wolf ran across an elevated small hill before leaping for the snowmobile.

"Go right!" Cassie shouted at Derek.

Without hesitating, he jerks the snowmobile to the right and narrowly avoids the adolescent wolf from crushing him.

Derek spotted the wolf in the corner of his eyes and thanked the girl. "You're the eyes in the back of my head."

"Yeah, let's hope those wolves don't claw them out."

When Cassie ran dry on the bullets in her pistol, she opted to unholster her M4 carbine and use it on the wolves. After a short while of running and gunning, the wolf numbers started to cut down from twenty to five as they got higher and higher up the mountain.

Cassie shot the first two wolves but the other three broke off and ran in different directions, disappearing behind rocks.

"What happened?" Derek asked, not risking to look over his shoulder. "Are they all dead?"

"They ran off in different directions." Cassie took this time to reload her weapons. "Keep an eye out."

The three wolves cut off the snowmobiles by jumping in front of their paths.

The first wolf jumped for the Priest, mouth wide open to take a bite, but Cassie shot it in the mouth. The wolf's body still landed on the Priest and knocked both him and Bethany off the snowmobile.

The second wolf dived for Derek, and then he put his forehead to the throttle of the snowmobile to give Cassie a clear shot at shooting the wolf in the mouth. The body of the dead wolf still knocked them off the vehicle.

The wolf's body landed on top of Derek, trapping him underneath while Cassie landed on her shoulder, nearly breaking the bones inside.

The third wolf eyed both groups of downed snowmobilers eagerly, trying to decide which prey to take a bite into first.

The Priest guy and his niece or the two young adventurers, Cassie rolled her eyes with sarcasm. She aimed her rifle at the wolf before it backed away and disappeared behind a small hill.

Cassie quickly pulled the wolf's body off of Derek's leg as she ran for the Priest and Bethany, keeping her gun trained on the last place the wolf appeared.

"Are you guys okay?" Cassie asked.

"This is why I never liked riding bikes," the Priest complained, "I hate the feeling of falling off."

Cassie helped him up. "Then pray to god to make you un-fallable." She turned to Bethany. "What about you?"

Bethany picked herself up, shivering. "That...was..."

Cassie tilted her head.

"Awesome!"

The others narrowed their eyes.

"I felt like I was in an action movie; that was so cool!" She remembered Tyler and Alec. "But... I'm grateful to be alive."

Cassie patted her back. "We're all grateful to be alive."

"Excuse me, are we ignoring the obvious?" Derek spoke. "Where the hell did that last wolf go?"

Cassie shrugged. "It just disappeared. We've been sitting here for at least two minutes and it still hasn't pounced us."

"You think it's smart enough to recognize that it's been beaten?"

"If it's smart enough to realize that then we should consider ourselves lucky."

"I don't get it," Bethany suddenly said, "how are wolves that big able to exist? Back then, the reason animals were so big was because of the high levels of oxygen. Over time, those oxygen levels decreased so a creature the size of Fenrir could not exist as there is not enough oxygen to support their massive size."

Cassie nodded. "You're a smart girl. I believe the reason these wolves are able to exist this size is that they have adapted to take in low levels of oxygen and transfer it into life energy. Essentially, these wolves aren't running on oxygen but their own life energy." She shrugged. "That's the best theory I can come up with."

"Where did these animals come from in the first place?" the Priest asked in exasperation.

Derek already had an explanation. "Noah's Ark itself. Back then, the ark housed a male and female of every species but the bible was written by human hands at a time where only animals like lions, tigers, bears, oh my, and other modern-day animals existed. The bible never took into account animals that could've been hidden from the entire world and these giant wolves are animals that were lost when the ark was washed away from the earth."

The Priest rubbed his arms to make himself feel warm. "Why don't these wolves leave the mountain?" He thought for a moment until an idea came to him. "Unless Noah is keeping them here to protect the ark." A horrifying thought crossed. "It has been said that if Noah's Ark is found before Judgement Day then the apocalypse will be brought about prematurely. If these wolves are protecting Noah's Ark then it must mean that some aspect of that story is true." His eyes went wide with terror. "Does that mean if we find Noah's Ark..."

Bethany grabbed her uncle's hand. "But Noah hypnotized Cassie into finding the ark. If Noah is doing it then it must mean that the apocalypse won't come about because Noah is allowing to let the ark be found."

The Priest continued to shiver. "But... what if Noah wants to end the world?"

Bethany continued to shake her head. "If that's the case, why not call off the wolves and compel other people to look for the ark? Why is Cassie the only one with exclusive knowledge about the ark? If anything, Noah wants the ark to be found for some reason."

Find Noah's Ark.Find Noah's Ark.Find Noah's Ark.

Cassie put a hand to her temple. "Yeah, Noah is telling me to find Noah's Ark. Let's get back on our snowmobiles and put this thing to bed."

"Amen," Bethany and the Priest preached.

"Cassie, we have been snowmobiling in this snow for two hours, it's cold as hell," Derek complained.

Cassie couldn't argue with him, especially with her hands feeling numb, despite wearing gloves.

"It's almost like Hell is freezing over," The Priest jokes.

"Haha, I get it," Bethany said, still clutching onto her uncle's back.

"Just a couple hundred more meters and we will get there," Derek told himself.

"Hey Cassie, when we find Noah's Ark, what then?" The Priest asked. "Do we just look for its location or do we go inside cause I'm eager to see inside the ark."

"Well, I don't know, ask me again when we get there," Cassie answered.

The Priest nodded.

"Hey Cassie, I think I see something up ahead," Bethany shouted. She pointed upwards and Cassie looked.

The top of the mountain; they made it and when Cassie realized it, her breath escaped her mouth. She quickly climbed off the snowmobile and ran for the top of the mountain. Just as she was fifty feet from the peak, she holds a hand up and looks forward to a rock wall in front of her.

"The entrance to Noah's Ark..." she paused before pointing at the rock wall, "is here."

The others followed her gaze to look at the rock wall.

"I don't see anything," Derek said.

"Me either," the Priest added. Bethany shook her head.

Cassie took off her backpack and removed the treasure box from it. She took out the two wooden pieces before holding them up to the wall. Instinctively, she implanted them within a gap in the rock wall before backing away.

"The pieces of Noah's Ark have been returned to their proper place."

She holds her hands up and urges the others to get back.

Just behind them, snow started to shift. They turned and backed out of the way in time as the snow paved way for a surface made of wood to appear and a wall with a door to appear to their right. Cassie looked at the door and remembered seeing a similar door in her visions.

"I think we found Noah's Ark," Derek told Cassie. "Is this Noah's Ark according to your visions?"

Cassie nodded wordlessly.

"The entrance to Noah's Ark is right there. From there, we climb down."

"Down?" The Priest questioned.

"When the ark was washed aground, it was vertically rather than horizontally. We'll be going down then we'll be setting on horizontal ground."

"I can't believe this," Bethany gasped, "for Noah's Ark to exist right-side-up instead of flat on its bottom would mean this mountain is hollow at the top, especially at the center. That means, if we fall, we'll fall almost seventeen thousand feet to the ground."

"It's like falling into Hell," the Priest muttered. "I still can't believe it. We found it, we found the actual Noah's Ark from the Book of Genesis!" He jumped off the ground, dancing excitedly.

He couldn't help but hug Bethany and Derek as hard as possible. At the sight, the Priest actually began thanking the Lord in Hebrew.

Cassie smiled to herself. "My mission is complete... we have found... Noah's Ark."

Chapter 26: First Step

Chapter Text

Cassie takes her first step on the boat before her. The ground creaks beneath her boots, reminding her that she is walking over wood that is able to give way at a moment's notice. She waddles over to the door and she opens it. As the door was technically upside-down, she pushed it opened and looked down.

"Wow," she gasped, "this is the entrance to Noah's Ark."

She takes out her grappling hook and climbing piton. She stabs the hook into the rock wall beside her and rappels down. When she reached a point where her rope couldn't go further down, she stabbed the climbing piton down into a crevice and wrapped her hook around it.

Derek uses his grappling hook to lower the Priest and Bethany down below while Cassie left her grappling hook dangling above for the others to climb down.

Cassie had touched the solid ground for two minutes while waiting for the others to meet her. She took out her angle head flashlight and switched it on.

The angle head flashlight illuminated the room around them, a simple room made of wood with carvings inscribed on the wall. The symbols resembled various figures ranging from a stick to a box but they all lead across the room to a hole at the other end of the room big enough for a dozen people to fit through at once.

Derek shined his flashlight and illuminated a path for them to follow. Bethany took out her camera and took a selfie of her inside Noah's Ark, Derek doing the bunny ears on her.

Cassie reached for her back pocket subconsciously to reach for her pocket-sized journal before remembering that she lost the journal when she abandoned that detonating vehicle.

"The amulet!" Derek remembered. "The one with the symbol."

Bethany reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the amulet. "What about it?"

He points to something above the hole in the wall in front of them. "It's the same symbol on the amulet."

"Wow," Bethany gasped.

"Any item marked with that symbol comes from Noah's Ark," Cassie says offhandedly. "When the ark washed up, valuable it was carrying were scattered around the world."

"Where could these lost artifacts be?"

"The bible speaks of Noah's Ark being at least three hundred cubits long, which is four-fifty feet long," Bethany states. "I may be off by a few feet but the ark is that big at least."

Man, Bethany sure knew her geometry.

"Man you sure know your geometry," Cassie spoke her mind.

"Thank you, my uncle homeschooled me," Bethany answered.

Liar.

"I am actually surprised he taught you more than religion. I'm self-educated," Cassie remarked. "Either way, if we want to find the artifacts hidden deep inside Noah's Ark, we follow the symbols on the wall until we reach the treasury."

"Can we at least turn on the lights so we can see?"

Cassie took out her zippo before heading over to a lantern. She users her zippo to light it up. Once the lantern lit up with the smallest of flames, the trail flames faded into the wall and traveled along until it reached another lantern, the process repeating until the entire room was lit up with the lanterns.

"Wow, I can't believe we are insidetheark."

Cassie and Bethany's smiles dropped and turned around. They were staring into the eyes of Burak and Leyla Uzun, Arda, Hasan, and Bedrettin, their faces illuminated by the lanterns.

"Cassie Drake, Derek Lowell, thank you for finding the ark for us, thank you very much," Burak said in between laughs. "Now, lead us to the room with all the treasure," He waved the revolver to Derek.

"The journal?" Cassie guessed. She looked to the ceiling (or floor) above to see that the grappling hooks Overlord left behind.

Burak took out the journal from his back pocket. "You practically drew a map for us. We were lying in wait as we were unable to get into Noah's Ark without you."

"You always know me; always ready to help bad guys." She laughed before she remembered what she wanted to say. "You're after something that's been hiddeninsideNoah's Ark rather than the ark itself."

Leyla smiled. "Aaron's Rod."

Cassie thought back to her visions, what she saw when she was climbing in the boat and what she saw. "For the longest time, I've wondered what the infamous Overlord organization could want with a boat and how they would use that boat to take over the world... but it's not the boat itself, and when I realized this..."

"You've heard the stories of Aaron's rod and its connections to the Ten Plagues of Egypt and Moses."

She nodded.

"There is more to it than just ten plagues and being connected to the man who parted the Red Sea, there is a far greater power that comes with Aaron's Rod; the ability to create tsunamis, sandstorms, and avalanches, controlling forces of disasters. A beauty if I do say so myself."

"You know what, that doesn't sound like a bad idea, we take the child, tie up the others, and sink this wooden vessel," Burak thought aloud. "Yeah, it would be poetic for Cassie Drake to die by the treasure she sought." He aimed his gun at Derek's forehead. "While you have drawn us a map leading us here and opened the door for us, we're not stupid to know that there could be traps and an experienced person such as yourself should move on ahead."

Cassie steps in front of Derek, preparing to take the bullet if it came to it.

"If you so much as graze Derek I will break every bone in your body."

Burak aims the gun at the Priest and fires.

The Priest screams and clutches his shoulder, nursing a flesh wound near his right collarbone.

"UNCLE!"

"If you donotadvance for us, I will make Little Belinay Sadik here an orphan."

Cassie held up her hands. "Wait, don't shoot." She looked over her shoulder to the doorway. "I'll go first and solve any traps I come across; I promise."

Leyla tilted her head, eyeing the young woman suspiciously. "You better."

Cassie points to the doorway. "I'll go right now... but I would like the notebook, please."

Bedrettin marched forward and grabbed Bethany by the back of the head and yanked her back. "I'll keep this one in check."

The pain in the Priest's shoulder was blocked off, ignored by feelings of pure anger at the sight of his niece being grabbed.

"I'm going," Cassie panicked before running to the doorway. When she looked back, Leyla tossed her the notebook and she caught it in her hands.

She lined her angle head flashlight forward to illuminate a path for her.

She opened her journal to the fourth and final vision she saw. She reread over the passages and closed her eyes and sighed.

She had discovered the second piece hidden in the rubble in the church. Standing up, she looked at both wooden pieces in both of her hands, eyes looking over them, studying them with sharp intensity. Once she studied them long enough, she turned to the only door in the church and pushed it open.

Instead of finding the place to be flooded like it was last time, she was surrounded by a maze of crystal ice. It was like the water had frozen solid in place and she knew it was the ocean; there was a sculpture of ice in the form of the wave that towered over her to the right.

She walks forward, relying on instincts to get around this maze of a frozen ocean, no need to keep her balance as the ice was strong enough to walk across without slipping.

When she reaches a slope that goes up, she takes out her grappling hook and piton and uses them to dig into the ice and climb up. She nearly loses her footing after a few feet but found her rhythm and went at a slow and steady pace.

When she was roughly halfway up the icy hill, she felt a rumble in the ground and nearly loses her footing. She clings onto the grappling hook and piton for dear life before turning around to search for the source that nearly caused her to fall.

At the bottom of the hill was a giant wolf with piercing yellow eyes staring down at her from fifty feet in the air. Cassie yelps and begins climbing faster. The giant wolf was about a hundred feet away before it started closing in on Cassie, charging for the hill with the intent of snapping her in half.

When she climbed up a hill, she came to a junction where the hill had two paths for her to take.

She saw Derek climbing up the path on the left with two ice picks.

"Derek!" she called up and climbed after him. She remembered the giant wolf closing in on her and looked back. Its jowls were ten feet from biting into her before it backed off.

"Holy crap," Cassie panted, "why isn't it eating me?"

"You're on the left side of the mountain," Derek answered nonchalantly, "The power of Noah's Ark is keeping them from causing too much damage to the mountain. They don't normally hunt on the northwest side of the mountain but I wouldn't take any unnecessary risks if I were you."

"What the hell even is that?"

"It's a female wolf that was lost during the Great Flood; there are other animals that boarded Noah's Ark aside from the ones we know today."

"Why is it so big? Did it evolve to live off of life energy rather than oxygen because our oxygen levels would not be able to sustain a creature THAT size?"

"Compelling theory." He points upward. "It won't chase after us, nor will any of the adolescent wolves behind it."

Cassie's eyes widened. "There are more wolves?"

"Yeah, and they'll kill anyone who gets WAY too close to the ark. But there is a weakness; the inside of their mouths. They basically evolved so their fur and skin can survive the harsh conditions of the cold but the insides of their mouths are vulnerable. If you see one of these monsters sneaking up on you, shoot them in the mouth."

"Thanks for letting me know, Shaman Derek."

Cassie follows Derek all the way up to the hill and finds her footing on solid ground, or snow. When she stood, she looked behind her to see the entire ocean have frozen. The ice quickly defrosted when the sun rose over the horizon and melted the ice before her. The melted ice was sinking downwards until it covered the entire landscape beneath her in snow. When she realized what happened, she stared off into the distance, recognizing that she was at the top of a mountain.

Derek walks up to her with his hands in his pockets. "It's the top of Mount Ararat."

"That was my first thought," she remarked. She turned to see the rock wall with two holes barely visible and big enough for the two wooden pieces to go.

"That's part of the ark," Derek said as if reading her mind.

Cassie obeyed Derek's words and planted the wooden pieces into the rock wall before Noah's Ark appears before her.

She takes out her grappling hook and climbing piton to lower herself down. When she touches down, she finds herself in an empty room with an unlit lantern beside her. She lights up the lantern with her zippo, which lit up the other lanterns before her.

Derek appeared out of the darkness and stood behind her. "Noah's Ark is hanging on its side; you have to descend down before moving to the center where you'll find the center of the boat."

Cassie steps through the doorway, following the path with the symbols, the space around her lit up with the lanterns. She looked over her shoulder to see Burak and Leyla shoving Derek forward with assault rifles aimed with rigid determination at the back of his head. She notices that Hasan and Arda stayed behind to watch the Priest and she imagines that Bedrettin was still holding Bethany hostage. All these reminders that her friends' lives were in actual danger made her heart pump in her chest, threatening to kill her with a heart attack.

Cassie Drake, death by a heart attack at age twenty-four, it's not right.

She moves forward through the hall, watching her steps carefully.

If my memory is correct, the first set of traps should be up ahead right about... here.

Cassie steps on a pentagon-shaped tile in front of her and goes falling forward. Derek thrusts a hand out and grabs her by the shoulder in the nick of time, dangling her over more pentagon-shaped tiles at a ninety-degree angle, his arm twitching before yanking her back on solid.

"What was that?" she yelled whilst panting.

"The first trap."

Cassie rips off a piece of wood from the wall and uses her zippo to light it. With the end burning, she leans over the hole and drops the flaming wood. She stayed on the wooden piece as it disappeared down into an empty abyss before disappearing from sight.

"Hollow part of the mountain," Derek said absentmindedly. "If you step on the wrong tile, you'll fall sixteen thousand feet to your death."

"Thanks for the heads-up." She looks at the tiles presented before her, sweating nervously. "Which tiles do I step on?"

"You're lucky I'm around and I have enough foresight to guess the correct tiles." He put a hand on her shoulder, stroking her affectionately. "Follow my lead."

She looks at him with a warm smile on her face. "Lead the way, D-Man."

She stops just shy two paces away from walking on a pentagon-shaped tile on the ground. She aims her flashlight down to see illuminate a path of pentagon-shaped tiles big enough for one person to stand on... and fall through.

So this is the first challenge. Alright Shaman Derek, show me the way.

Chapter 27: Primitive Methods

Chapter Text

"There are only nine pentagons you can step on that won't break under your weight," Derek warned.

Cassie gasped. "I am not fat."

"But you weigh more than fifty pounds and that is the max these rocks can hold."Derek pointed at the tiles. "Regardless, if you step on the wrong tile, you'll fall to your death. I'm here to help you." He rubs his hands together like Mr. Miyagi. "Let's get started, shall we?"

He leaps across the tiles, landing on all and making it to the other side. He turns and faces her with a half-hearted smile. "Easy."

Cassie looked at the tiles, desperate to remember which tiles he stepped on. "What was the pattern?"

"If it helps you, think of a keyboard."

"A keyboard?"

"The first three letters directly in front of you are M, L, and P, from left to right. The pattern isM, B, H, T, E, A. Picture the letters on the tiles and use that as a map."

"M, B, H, T, E, A?"

"Yes."

Cassie took a deep breath and looked down at the tiles, her heart pounding in her chest.

M, B, H, T, E, A was the pattern,Cassie thought.M, B, H, T, E, A.

She feels her feet swim with nervousness in her shoes and she flexes her toes subconsciously. She was questioning herself if this could be the opposite end but she remembered the path she took in her visions with such astonishing detail.

She looked down in her notebook and saw a drawing of a keyboard.

I remember,her eyes beam,I was drawing a keyboard on the way to the warehouse where Bethany was taken. I wrote down the letters and a keyboard.

She holds up the journal close to her face that her nose was nearly touching before looking down at the tiles. To test to make sure everything was correct, she pressed her foot on the tile that would be letter L, putting the bare minimum of weight on the tile before it gave way. She snatched her foot back before it could fall through and sighed with relief.

"Thank you, Shaman Derek," she whispered.

Cassie runs for it, hopping onto the tile she mentally marked as M. Instead of waiting for confirmation, she jumped to the B tile before hopping like a frog to the H tile. She catches her composure before leaping to the T tile and without putting her foot down, jumps and plans on the E tile. She jumps off with both feet and lands square on the A tile.

Cassie's eyes widened and a laugh escaped her throat.

Cassie turned to look back at the hostages and hostage-takers with a smug smirk. She had replicated every step she took in her vision without looking at the keyboard for assistance and a sense of power she hadn't felt since she was trapped in this hopeless situation found her.

"Your turn," Cassie with smugly. "M, B, H, T, E, A."

In spite of the gun barrel being jammed in the back of his skull, Derek smiled.

Burak and Leyla shook their heads. Burak took out a walkie-talkie and called for assistance.

"Hasan, bring the ladder."

Cassie's smugness disappeared.

Hasan and Arda escorted the Priest through the doorway with Hasan pulling off his pack and taking someone off. An adjustable ladder that stretched far enough to reach the other side.

"Such a primitive person," Burak mocked, "hopping around tiles when you could've asked for a ladder."

Cassie felt herself blush but didn't give them the satisfaction of turning around. "Well... it runs in the Drake family to climb and hop around like a monkey. My grandpa said my father was climbing the rails of his crib when he was a baby."

The soldiers crossed over the ladder bridge with Derek in tow, Arda staying behind to keep the Priest in check at arm's length.

Once the soldiers and Derek were across, they urged her to keep going.

Cassie complied and lead the way. As she followed the lanterns across the wall, she noticed that they began to lack in numbers the deeper she got into the boat. Remembering something from her vision, she stopped and turned her angle head flashlight down at the ground once more.

There weren't tiles but there was lighting shining from the ceiling. The light covered ten feet of ground with and nearly reaching from one wall to the next, leaving no more than two feet of room to shimmy against the walls.

"What trial is this?" Burak asked.

"A spotlight?" Derek touched his lips. "A test to see if you're a vampire?"

Cassie chuckled. "No, it's a trial. Trial by fire."

"Go on."

Cassie picked up a loose piece of wood and threw it into the spotlight. The light seemed to shine brighter and the piece of wood was set on fire instantly. Cassie jumped and tried reaching for the wooden piece to put the flames out before the floors opened and the fiery wood fell into an abyss before the floors closed again.

"Ah..." Leyla mused, "if you step in the spotlight, you get burned to a crisp."

"Got any shade and cover for me?" Cassie asked.

"That thing is hot enough to set a block of wood on fire, adapt."

Meanie.

Cassie backed away as Derek stopped her with his forearm. He pointed to the spotlight in the center of the room.

"As much as we both know you love the spotlight, I recommend staying out of it."

Cassie looked up to find where the light was coming from and saw a hole in the ceiling. "At the depth we're at, it would be impossible for random lighting to get through."

"That's not lighting." He tore off a stick of wood from the wall and threw it into the spotlight. It exploded with flames before the floors opened and fell into an abyss, the floors closing once more. "That's something that will burn you to a crisp and drop you into the pits of Hell." He did not miss the horrified look on her face. "Think you got what it takes?"

"How am I supposed to cross that?" She pointed to the shadows against the wall. "There's barely enough room for me to shimmy against the wall."

Derek shook his head. "Not recommended because when you press your back to the wall, the wall will push you off and into the spotlight. The only way to get through is timing."

"What are you talking about?" Her eyes widened as he comprehended what he was saying. She removed a wooden piece from the wall and threw it into the spotlight. She peels off two more pieces, throwing one to the ground while holding the other at arm's level. The result was the same but she had the answer she was looking for and discarded the flaming stick she was holding.

"It takes two seconds for the object in the light to combust, two more seconds for the floor to deploy, but the stick I was holding, I didn't put it in the spotlight until the first piece caught fire. It didn't catch fire until after the floors opened and disposed of the combusted object. Meaning..."

"You have three seconds to jump ten feet across the light before it sets you on fire."

Cassie pulled out her notes and looked over them. If this is what her vision told her then this test was about timing. She tore off two sticks to test her theory from the visions. The result was near identical.

I have three seconds to jump ten feet across. I can jump that far, somewhat. But I'll have to jump and make sure that I get my legs out of there in time. Piece of cake.

She peels off the third piece from the wall and walks back until she was standing beside Derek.

Burak and Leyla tensed up. "What are you doing, Drake?" Burak demanded.

She ignored him and threw the stick piece into the spotlight. Two seconds later, it combusted and she started sprinting.

The millisecond the floors opened to dispose of the flaming wood piece, she nosedived across the spotlight and landed on her stomach with her legs dangling over the opening. She quickly pulls herself forward and snatches her knees back just as the floors finished closing.

"Hahaha," she laughed as she picked herself up, dusting her kneecaps. "How do you like them apples, Overlord?"

"Not as much as we liketheseapples, Drake," Burak answered.

Hasan and Leyla held Derek at gunpoint as Burak began tearing into the floors of the boat. Cassie questioned his motives but he ignored her. He tore out a wooden piece in the shape of a square that was big enough to cover his head like a top hat. He holds it over the spotlight and smiles when it doesn't catch fire. He holds the wooden square above his head like a hat and walks across the spotlight without combusting into flames.

He addressed the shocked Cassie, "You're lowering my opinion on you, Drake? Didn't you have enough brain cells to figure out that the floor standing under the spotlight wasn't going up in flames and you could've torn a similar piece off without jumping teen feet across?"

Cassie growled. "If you're going to undermine myawesomeways of solving these puzzles, you can find Aaron's Rod yourself."

Leyla co*cked her gun and shoved it into Derek's temple, making sure Cassie noticed.

She held a finger up. "On second thought, I think it's ingenious of you to find lazy ways to cheat death."

Burak walked back and escorted his wife, and hostage under his anti-combusting top hat and joined with Cassie on the other side. Hasan decided to stay behind to make sure the treasure hunters don't double back. Leyla held onto Derek's shoulders while Burak kick Cassie to walk forward.

"Looks like we're on equal footing once more," Cassie chuckled.

The last test was within range.

Cassie followed the path, the lanterns on the wall now absent with only her angle-head flashlight to help guide her. She follows the path until she stops at a wall.

A blank wall.

"Watch out with this one," Shaman Derek warned, "this is a dangerous test and if you don't answer it correctly, you could die."

Cassie huffed and said, "When has a test NOT tried to kill me and whatnot?"

"True I guess but this one is dangerous. You have to carve a symbol onto the wall in order to be let through."

"What symbol?" She narrowed her eyes before widening them. "Circle with a cross in the center with three lines dragged across the center horizontally?"

"Exactly," Derek beamed with a smile.

"What does this symbol mean and why is it so important?"

"It's a symbol that means refuge. Refuge for prized possessions or items that were too dangerous for human hands to touch. This is a test of knowledge. Take out a knife and carve that symbol onto the wall."

She took out her climbing piton. "Will this work?" He nodded.

She put the tip of the climbing piton to the wall and began carving.

Cassie turned to Burak and Leyla. "Do any of you guys have a knife?"

"Why are you asking?" Leyla eyed the young girl suspiciously.

"Because this next trial requires me to carve a symbol on the wall."

Burak moved forward and pushed Cassie aside. "We'll make it easy for ourselves."

He kicked at the wall. It didn't budge at first but there was a crevice beginning to form.

"Cassie, I cannot stress how important it is to open the door using this method."

"Why?"

As the crack began to spread and a foot-size hole grew from Burak's constant kicks, a faint hissing sound could be heard over the cracking. The hissing grew in volume and clear smoke began floating through the hole.

Poison gas,Cassie thought,thanks for warning me ahead of time, Shaman Derek.

Chapter 28: BANG! BANG!

Chapter Text

Cassie jumped away from the hole as the smoke began filling the room. She took a deep breath and held it. When Burak noticed, he quickly shed his jacket and put it over the hole, blocking off the smoke. He held his breath and looked over at his wife.

Derek saw his opportunity and elbowed the gun out of her grasp and tackled her...

BANG!

...but not before it discharged a bullet into the wall beside him. She pushed him off before he could tackle her to the ground and threw several punches to his face. She doesn't give him any breathing room and punches him in the stomach before flipping him over her hip. He lands hard on his back and she jumps on top of him with her knees. She grabs him by the back of the head and begins hammering it into the ground. He grabs at her hand and tries to push her off but she headbutts him and slaps him across the jaw.

She reached for the gun and aimed it at Derek before Cassie tackled her before she could pull the trigger. Cassie knocks the gun away and grabs her by the throat. Leyla quickly kicks her off and slaps her across the face. After one final burst of strength, she catches Cassie in a chokehold and begins squeezing.

Derek picks himself up and punches Leyla in the face.

Burak seethes through his teeth and presses his back the jacket against the hole with his jacket before taking out his gun.

Cassie charged for Burak and shoved the hand with the gun against his throat and began punching at him.

BANG!

There was a second gunshot, coming from the end of the hallway, where the Priest and Bethany were.

Bethany knew that she was no physical threat against a human, especially an adult male. She was thirteen and barely picked up a gun and she had no fighting experience. To be accurate, she has started fights occasionally at school but she has not trained in any formal martial arts aside from the techniques her uncle and parents taught her but she was still not a black belt.

Bedrettin was stronger than he looked - he was holding his phone in his right hand while his left hand was gripping Bethany's head with minimal effort and he still managed to restrain her.

I know that I am helpless in this situation,she thought.I am thirteen and I don't stand a chance against this old man.

Bethany knew that struggling was futile so she decided to save her strength. She looked slightly over her shoulder to see Bedrettin looking down at his phone, distracted by social media.

He is a horrible hostage-taker. Don't underestimate me because I'm thirteen.

Bethany quietly sighs and looks around her environment to see what she could find for a weapon. She didn't have the faintest idea what to use as a weapon and Bedrettin was armed with a firearm that fired live rounds. Regardless, she knew she had to do something.

I'll kick him in the balls then runoff.

BANG!

Bethany and Bedrettin looked up towards the doorway, shocked at the sound of the gunshot that went off.

Without thinking, Bethany kicked Bedrettin in the groin and ran off when his grip on her had relaxed enough to break free. She ran for the doorway and instead of taking a right as Cassie had done, she follows in the left direction without the lanterns, not wanting to run into Hasan or Arda, especially when her companions were still taken hostage.

Bedrettin follows at her but lost sight of her when she ran so deep down the lantern-less hall that she disappeared into the darkness. Bedrettin took off running, confident that he would catch her eventually. He sprinted for about thirty seconds when he dropped headfirst into the ground.

An unlit lantern had clocked him in the back of the head and flopped him to the ground. Bethany stood over the downed Bedrettin, panting with sweat on her face.

"I may not be a badass but don't underestimate me," she said with proudness.

Bedrettin kicked his feet out and hit her in the kneecap. He reaches for the gun that had slipped from his hand and aims it at the thirteen-year-old. Bethany saw this coming and without even thinking, throws the lantern at the base of his forehead. He went limp against the ground, his eyes open but motionless.

She grabbed his pistol and moved away from him. Strange, the pistol felt loaded in her hand. She told herself that the pistol wassupposedto feel loaded when there's an actual magazine inside the gun. She checks the gun, looking not unlike the pistols she'd seen Cassie and Derek shooting at the wolves either. She already decided a long time ago that she wouldn't use a gun to maim and murder people but to save lives. She asked herself how she was going to save lives when all a gun could do was kill someone but she found her answer.

She aimed at the ceiling and fired.

Arda was initially confused as to what was going on, his mind trying so hard to comprehend the situation before him. First, he heard a gunshot coming from Burak and Leyla's position, and then he heard one behind him in Bedrettin's location. Were the Overlord soldiers done with the young adventurers and decided to pop caps in their skulls? The lack of an answer was making him anxious and he let his guard down.

That's when the Priest attacked.

The Priest grabbed Arda's neck and shoved him against the wall. Arda kicked him back and aimed the gun at his face, stopping the Priest in his tracks. "Because I knew you through Tariq, I won't shoot you in the face."

"Should I be complimented by that when you betrayed Tariq?" The Priest snarled at his enemy.

"Tariq was my friend," Arda defended, "I begged for his life to be saved and that Commander Uzun wouldn't execute him. When I saw the Uzuns spare Tariq, I knew it was a short-lived victory and they would order his execution later so I decided to spare him from a grim fate. I lured him to this mountain so I could kill him and spare him a slow death that Overlord would grant him."

The Priest stared at Arda, his gaze unwavering. "You really are a traitor."

"I would rather my friend die a quick and painless death than a slow and painful one, especially a Code: Black."

"You're still a traitor after everything you've done. I was going to let you off by breaking your bones but I realized that you were too far gone and you should be put out of your misery."

Arda looked at the Priest with a predatory look. "You sound just like those rebels who invaded my family's village." He kicks the Priest in the stomach. "We're heading back, you're no longer needed here."

He shoves the Priest back and escorts him to the tiles. The adjustable ladder was still there so he ordered them both to walk across. Just as they both touched down on the other side, Arda turned his head to see Hasan running for them.

"What's going on back there?" Hasan screamed across the hall. "Who shot that gun? What's going on?"

"Bedrettin," Arda answered, "I think he is having trouble with Bethany."

"Bethany?" He laughed. "I'd be more than happy to help Bedrettin out with Bethany." He steps onto the adjustable bridge ladder. "I'm coming over."

Arda's heart stopped beating in his chest. His eyes went wide and his lips pulled back to bare his teeth. His eyes had a glow in them that reminded one of an animal about to pounce on a lion and he turned to the adjustable bridge. "Stay where you are!" he threatened with vile in his breath.

Hasan stopped halfway across the bridge, his eyes instantly meeting his older brother's across. He stood on the adjustable bridge ladder, not moving a muscle and not wavering until he found his breath once more.

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't forgive you for what you did to Belinay Sadik!" Arda declared. "I can't accept what you are going to continue to do to other thirteen-year-olds; your rage-filled antics are coming to an endrightNOW!"

"Really?" he laughed. "What are you going to do, push me?"

Arda said nothing, which was the answer Hasan needed to feel his heart pound in terror.

"You're going to k-kill me... your little brother?" Arda continued to keep silent, worsening Hasan's fear. "But... I-I thought brothers were supposed to t-take c-care of e-e-each other?"

"I amtaking careof you, little brother." Arda's foot found the edge of the adjustable ladder. "Goodbye, little brother."

Hasan shook his head. "N-no, p-please!" Tears spilled down his face at the betrayal set in and nearly made his heart explode. "BIG BROTHER!" he choked on a sob.

The scene happened in slow motion: Arda kicked the ladder to the side, causing Hasan to lose balance three feet after moving and fall forward. He reaches a hand out as far as he could, hoping to reach for the ledge but he knew that the edge was out of reach. He looked up to see his brother holding a hand out for him. Arda snatched his hand back at the last second.

Hasan fell on top of the tiles and smashed through, leaving a human-shaped hole in the ground as he fell into a deep abyss, fading from sight with only his screams echoing in the boat being heard.

The Priest gaped at the sight before him, rational leaving him as he stared at the back of Arda's head. Without thinking, he threw a punch aimed for his nape.

As if sensing his attack, Arda blocked the punch with his elbow before grabbing him by the throat and tossing him to the ground by his hip, and aims the gun for his forehead.

"How could you do that?" the Priest demanded to know. "You murdered your younger brother in cold blood!" Arda said nothing. "Brothers are supposed to take care of each other and you killed him like that when he was begging for mercy? You are pure evil!"

Arda snapped. "I busted myassoff trying to protect him. First of all, he kidnaps Belinay Sadik with the intent of torturing her and putting her through the same sh*t we did and planned on doing that to every thirteen-year-old. I joined Overlord with the pure intention of saving him and paying for his rehab bills and he betrays me." Arda grinds his teeth. "I'm so GODDAMAN glad he is DEAD!"

Arda started laughing. "My brother, the man who's been sabotaging my life is finally dead!" He said it a second time and it felt like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. "I have hated my brother the moment he was born and I have only been looking after him because Mom told me to. Tariq was more of a brother than he was." He screams into the gun like it's a mic. "I'm so glad you are dead and in the goddamn dirt, HASAN!"

CLICK!

"Let my uncle go!"

Arda silences himself and turns around to see Bethany holding a gun at him. He smiles at the young girl armed with the pistol and aims his gun at her. "If you have any galls in you, use it to pull the trigger."

"How could you kill your own brother like that?!" Bethany yelled. "My father wouldneverdo something like that to my uncle!"

"In case you forgot, Sadik, I'mnotyour father nor uncle and I've always hated my brother. You'll never understand it because you're an only child but I can assure you when you have a sibling, you hate them with all your guts. I have been dying for a long time to kill my brother and now that he's dead-"

The Priest cuts Arda off by lifting the soldier up and suplexing him on the tiles.

Arda barely had any time to register what was happening before he fell through the tiles, screaming as he plunged into the abyss his brother fell down.

The Priest looked at the human-shaped hole left behind in the tiles, registering the fact that he directly killed a human being in front of his niece before turning to her. His niece was staring at her with wide eyes, pale skin, and a shaky gun in her hands. He held a surrendering hand up.

"I shouldn't have done that," he said, "I shouldn't have killed him in front of you."

Bethany lowers the gun. "It's not the first time I've seen a dead body."Dad killed someone in front of me.

"The brother, Hasan, he was the one who kidnapped you."

"I know," she nodded slowly. "But it doesn't justify what Arda did. Siblings may drive you crazy... but siblings love you. Arda was just dealt a bad hand in his relationship with his brother; I know for a fact that if I had a brother, I would love him as my Daddy loved you with all his heart."

Not wasting another second, Bethany lowered her gun and ran to embrace her uncle.

BANG!

There was a second gunshot, coming from the end of the hallway, where the Priest and Bethany were. Cassie couldn't think straight and blinked rapidly. She wanted to gasp but her primal instincts reminded her of the situation she was in and punched Burak as hard as she could in the face before disarming him of his gun. She backed away as she aimed the gun at him. She held it up and aimed for the area between his eyes and was shocked when he laughed.

"Something funny?"

He pulled out a grenade. "Recognize this?"

"A paintball grenade?"

"This is the grenade you left behind in the SUV on the bridge," Burak explained. "Remember, when the truck swooped in and crashed, you jumped out but you left your journal and a standard-issued Overlord grenade behind." He wiggles the grenade in his hand. "All I have to do is pull this part and bing, bang, boom."

Cassie pulled the hammer back on her gun. "But what about your wife? Won't she miss you when you die and I live?"

"If I die, I'm taking you with me."

"And you won't get Aaron's Rod."

"If I don't get Aaron's Rod, another Overlord soldier will. Besides, I'd rather die than letyouof all people get their treasure-destroying hands on Aaron's Rod." He points the grenade at Cassie. "Aaron's Rod will be a tool used to create a fair world for everyone. There will be no more conflict and everyone can live in peace and harmony without fear of injustice and unfairness destroying their lives."

"No," Cassie instantly snapped, "life is not meant to be fair and anyone who fights for a fair world is only doing it for themselves because one thingcan'tbe fair to everyone else; it's impossible." Cassie held the barrel away from Burak. "You can still turn back and walk away. What say we walk out of the ark together and forget this ever happened?"

FIND NOAH'S ARK!FIND NOAH'S ARK!FIND NOAH'S ARK!

I guess my mission is not yet complete.

"Let's go back to our families and be with them." She remembered Leyla and Derek behind her. "Be with your wife while I'll be with my boy..."

She cut herself off but was unable to stop the next word from leaving her mouth.

"...friend."

Burak glared at her. "Impossible to be fair for everyone?" He considered the statement in his head before nodding. "Maybe you're right... but as long as this world is fair for our child... then screw fairness for everyone else."

He reaches for the pin. Cassie draws her pistol and shoots him in the finger. He howls, drops the grenade, and clutches his finger, what was left of it.

"BURAK!" Leyla elbowed Derek in the face and charged at Cassie.

As if the world slowed down to view everything in slow motion, Cassie turned around and saw the woman charge for her. She didn't have enough time to move out the way so she caught the woman when she bumped chests with her and redirected her path to her husband.

Unfortunately, Leyla had crashed into Burak harder than intended and they went crashing through the wooden wall and let the poison gas out.

Chapter 29: Feeling Human

Chapter Text

Cassie inhaled once more and put her forearm over her mouth. She turned away and looked at Derek.

Burak and Leyla fell through the door and into an open pit about teen feet below. Burak landed on his back with his wife on top of him and he started coughing violently, his wife doing the same. The poison gas had already spread through the room and flooded their lungs. They tried holding their breaths but it was too late and all they could do was cough up blood and scream in agony as the gas slowly killed them.

The gas was slowly spreading through the hall so Cassie and Derek ran all the way back to the edge of the combusting spotlight where the poison gas was less concentrated and looked at each other.

"Knife," Cassie mumbled, "I NEED KNIFE!"

Derek kept a hand over his mouth as he searched his pockets. He found his climbing piton and quickly handed it over to her. Cassie charges for the broken-down wall and touches the surface where she carved the symbol in the vision.

Without wasting another second, she stabs the climbing piton into the wood and drags it along.

Burak and Leyla grabbed hold of each other and looked into the other's bloodshot eyes.

Leyla collapses to her knees, continuing to cough while her husband kneels to hug her.

Cassie finished carving the symbol on the door. She backed away and stood next to Derek, a low concentration of poison gas had reached them but they both kept their composure. Cassie's world started to turn dark, her eyelids getting heavy, and her lungs on the verge of exploding in her chest.

Just onebreath... she told herself,the gas doesn't have to know.

She remembers where Burak and Leyla were. She rushes to the door and lays on her stomach before reaching into the open pit.

Burak and Leyla stared up at Cassie's stretched hand like it was the hand of the grim reaper. Burak's bloodshot eyes rolled to the back of his skull but he still found the resolve to reach for her hand. His hand fell short two feet when the bones in his arm suddenly went numb and he collapsed on his back.

Leyla landed head-first on her husband's stomach, the painful feeling in her chest making her cough no longer there. She pushes her elbow in the ground and uses it as a clutch to crawl closer to Burak. With her head inches away from his head, she rested it on the ground beside him.

I can finally breathe again...she sighed with a smile.Burak, I can breathe again.

Burak...

Burak...

Burak and Leyla Uzun lay motionless on the floor, blood that had been blocked up in the back of their throats finally coming to a head and leaking from their mouths. Their skin had turned blue from the lack of oxygen and the whites of their eyes became pure bloodshot.

However, in their final moments, they died holding each other's hand.

The gas had finally cleared and Cassie allowed herself the chance to breathe but her breath left her regardless when she stared down at the dead Overlord soldiers. She climbs back to her feet and gulps in a mouthful of air and allows her blurry vision to clear out.

"They're dead," Cassie quietly said. "The poison gas suffocated them."

Cassie has seen dozens of dead bodies in her lifetime but seeing these two hits differently and she knew why.

Burak said that he only cares about making the world fair for 'his' child.

Burak and Leyla had a child and this child was their sole motivation.

I killed two parents.

Derek lets out a deep breath he had been holding in like a fish going back into the ocean and looked around the room they just opened. "I'm guessing that the door was fitted with some kind of chemical dispersal device that can only be turned off by carving something into the device." He looks at the back of Cassie's nape and sees a tear running down her cheek. "What's going on, Cass?" He moves over to her and takes a knee beside her. "What's wrong, Cassie-Blanca?"

"Burak and Leyla had a child," Cassie answered quietly. "They were doing this for their child, so he can grow up in a better world." Her voice waver as more tears began flowing. "Burak and Leyla... their child is going to grow up an orphan... and I killed them."

"It was self-defense."

"Regardless if it was self-defense or not, Burak and Leyla were parents who were trying to do what they thought was best for their child; they're victims, not villains."

Derek grabbed her shoulder carefully. "Listen, Cassie... everyone has a family. You, me, the Priest, Bethany, even those nameless mooks we kill in self-defense. It doesn't matter who they were but that it was either them or you. They chose to put themselves at the risk of never seeing their child again. If they killed you,youwould never see your parents again. You would never see your cousins, aunt, and uncle again." He pauses. "Iwould never see you again."

Cassie looks at Derek, her face puffy with tears. "Burak and Leyla... what kind of sick, twisted ideas did Overlord put in their skulls?"

"Cassie," he leaned in and whispered in her ear, "you did it... you saved the world. Whether Burak and Leyla were victims or not is irrelevant because you saved the world; you stopped Aaron's Rod from falling into the wrong hands. You are a hero, Cassie."

Aaron's Rod?Cassie's memory came back to her and she realized what was in this treasury room. Now that the threat was out the way, she took a chance to look around the room.

The room had an open pit in the center but the treasures were hidden in the corners of the room. Above the pit in the center of the room was a lit lantern that illuminated the room. The walls were made of solid wood and the treasures that lay against them were gold coins and silver cups and chalices stacked on top of one another.

Cassie jumps over the corner of the pit to get to the right side of the room. If her vision was correct, Aaron's Rod should be-

Hidden under the gold coins and silver chalices. Cassie began digging through the treasure like a dog before her fingertips brushed against the top of a wooden sphere. She moves the coins and treasures from around the wooden sphere and sees Aaron's Rod for the first time. She grabs it by the handle and hauls it out of the treasure, holding it above her head with one hand and a sigh escapes her breath.

Cassie kicked open the wall and gasped at the sight. The treasury room before her eyes, illuminated by a lantern dangling over an open pit in the middle of the room, and to her left was what looked to be piles of white seeds while on her right were gold coins and silver chalices.

"Oh my god..." she gasped, "this is the treasury room of Noah's Ark?"

Derek smiled. "It sure it. Hard to believe that various objects from the bible were hidden here when people decided their power was too dangerous for regular human hands."

"But why? If these are too dangerous for human hands... why am I being hypnotized into finding them?

"You're going to have to ask Noah yourself."

"Where is he?"

"Find the treasure room. Once you find the treasure room, Noah will present himself to you."

Cassie gasped with a sigh. "I can't believe it... I'm actually going to meet someone from the bible. I can't... I..."

Derek grabs Cassie's cheek, looks her directly in her eyes, before bestowing a kiss upon her lips.

Cassie flinched, wondering if something had gone wrong because whenever visions ended, Derek would always fade away just before barely kissing her. She didn't want him to fade away. Without breaking the kiss, she holds onto Derek as tight as she could, fearful that if she lets go, he'll fade away forever.

Cassie's eyes slowly open as the vision comes to an end. When her eyes were open, she was looking at Aaron's Rod as she hoped but into the hazel-brown eyes of Derek himself. That's when she knew that the kiss, in the end, wasn't just something of her imagination but a prediction that came true before her eyes. She was kissing Derek with all the affection in her heart and she didn't feel the least bit embarrassed by it. Rather than pay attention to the mythical staff in her hands, she focuses on the kissing.

"I love you, Cassie," Derek gasped with closed eyes.

"I love you too, Derek."

Her visions came back to her mid-kiss and Derek was pulling away from her slowly. He was looking over her shoulder at something. Whatever it was, it made him smile and he told her to turn around.

An old man with a long white beard was floating over the open pit wearing a red robe. She was at a loss for words once she realized who it was, Noah.

"Hello, Cassie," Noah said, smiling.

"Oh my god," she gasped, "Is that you, Noah?" Cassie asked.

"In the flesh."

Cassie covered her mouth with her hands. "I can't... believe it!"

"I finally became whole again."

Cassie tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"I dropped two pieces of my boat out there in the world so I could be found. Or my boat could be found at least."

"Why did you want your boat to be found?"

"I wanted to feel human again."

"Human?" She gasps. "Does that mean that everything in the bible is true?"

Noah looked at her. "There is a bit of truth in every myth. My boat WAS built for a great flood. My boat DID give refuge to a male and female of every species but that's all I'll say." He looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry for everything I put you through, Cassie, and everyone who came before you."

"What do you mean?"

"I wanted to talk to a human being in the world, get to know them and see how life has gone on without me. I hypnotized people into trying to find me so I can satisfy my craving for human interaction. But after seeing everything that happened to you, I have decided that it is best I remain a mystery to the world, never to be found again. There will be no more loose parts of the ark in the world and this ark will be lost from the world forever. As soon as you leave this ark, an avalanche will consume it and it will be lost forever, inaccessible to everything and everyone, including you. No one will die because of my selfish desires again, like Burak, Leyla, Tariq, and Goldman did."He held up a hand. "Thank you for returning the pieces to my vessel."

Cassie held up her hand. "Wait!"

"Your hypnotism will be lifted and you shall go on hearing no more voices in your head."

"Noah!"

"Goodbye, Cassie."

She tried reaching out for Noah but Derek grabbed her by the shoulder and held on tight.

Cassie didn't feel Derek squeezing her shoulder until after her final vision ended. By the time she regained her senses, she pulled away from Derek but kept staring into his hazel-brown eyes. She looked over at Aaron's Rod, which was still in the palm of her hands.

Derek looked down at the staff. "Is that really Aaron's Rod?"

Cassie nodded. "It is." She looked at the white seeds stacked on the other side. "And the white seeds are Manna."

"Haha."

Cassie touched Aaron's Rod with both hands, fingers gently touching the surface before she turns away from Derek. "It's beautiful."

Derek nodded. "It is."

"It's just a stick, a regular-looking stick but holds the power to create tsunamis, avalanches, natural disasters. I can't believe that a weapon of mass destruction such as this can actually exist. Too dangerous to test out the powers."

"Crap!" Derek yelled. "The Priest and Bethany!"

Cassies gasps and runs to the entrance, dropping the staff on top of the gold before leaping over the pit and making it to the other side. Along the way, she picked up the grenade Burak dropped earlier and ran down the hall, Derek following close behind her.

Unknown to either adventurer, the stick had shifted into a snake and crawled into a hole in the corner.

They picked up the escort piece for the combusting spotlight and glided through like a bat. They found the tiles with two human-shaped holes in the center and ran across the adjustable ladder bridge.

Is this mountain a volcano or was the mountain formed around the ark?Cassie questioned.

They turned a corner and into the room they rappelled in earlier.

The Priest and Bethany were already waiting for them, already grabbing the grappling hooks in the ceiling and tapping their feet against the ground.

"Where have you guys been?" the Priest scolded. "We have been waiting here forever!"

"I found Aaron's Rod," Cassie said without thinking, "Burak and Leyla are dead."

"Hasan and Arda decided to retire to the pits of Hell early." He pointed upward. "We better get a move on."

"Father Yagmur, Bethany, I am sorry for-"

"If you're going to say you're sorry for everything, forget it," Bethany cut off. "Wechoseto get involved in this crusade of saving the world from bad guys. The mission is done."

"But I-"

"You heard my niece," the Priest added, "now get a move on, Cassie; it's going to be dark soon and I'm pretty sure none of us want to climb down the snow mountain in the dark."

Cassie laughed. "Amen to that, Priest."

The four of them climbed up out of the ark and back into the outside world. They were overcome by the aroma of fresh air and took deep breaths like an astronaut who got back on earth.

"Fresh air," Cassie smelled, "can't ever beat it."

"Yeah," Derek agreed, "warm sky, white snow..."

CLICK!

"... the sound of being held at gunpoint once more."

The four turned ahead of them to see a group of twelve Overlord soldiers aiming guns at them, with Bedrettin acting as the ringleader.

He regained consciousness and climbed out of the pits,Bethany thought,and there are more Overlord soldiers than I thought.

"What up you jackasses!" Bedrettin laughed like a maniac. "If the four of you are here, then the only logical conclusion is the superior officers are dead." He spread his arms dramatically. "These guys behind me are survivors of the wolf attacks and since the highest rank here is a corporal, me, I am in charge!" He pointed at Cassie. "You... CASSIE DRAKE!"

Cassie put a hand on her chest with a 'what-me' look. "Why does everyone mistake me for Drake the rapper."

"I would love nothing more than to blow you all to smithereens but I'll be Code: Black'ed if that happened and Bedrettin plans on living a long life!"

Did he just refer to himself in the third person?she asked herself.

"Wait a second," Bedrettin yelled at the top of his lungs, pointing dramatically at Cassie's hands, "where is Aaron's Rod?! Didn't you retrieve it!"

Cassie rolled her eyes.This guy sure has a flair for theatrics.

"Of course I DIDN'T." Cassie pointed at the hole. "You see, I found Aaron's Rod but Aaron said that he needed it because he and his brother Moses were going to have a battle between staffs. The Staff of Moses vs Aaron's Rod sounds like a sweet deal doesn't it!"

"How. Could. YOU?!" Bedrettin yelled with two-second intervals between words. "You were supposed to get Aaron's Rod for us so we can take over the world! You were supposed to surrender and when I ask for the rod, you refuse and then change your mind when I tell my comrades in arms to shoot your comrades in arm. You're throwing everything off of Bedrettin's script!"

Cassie shook her head. "Do you ever talk like a normal person?"

Bedrettin glared at her. "I don'twantto be a normal person, I love those corny and cringy performances in movies. You're just like my parents and everyone else who told me to be better." He held up a hand above his head. "Soldiers, line your guns up at Lowell and the Sadiks; we are going to murder them!"

"Bedrettin," a soldier called out.

"Don't interrupt me monologuing!"

"BEDRETTIN!" the soldier shouted. "WOLF!"

Climbing up the peak of the mountain above them was the giant wolf, staring down at them from its tall height with its fangs bared for them all to see. Without missing a beat, it leaps towards them.

Cassie and Derek hooked their grappling hooks to the side of the mountain and held onto the Priest and Bethany.

The wolf touched down on the ground beneath the Overlord soldiers. It wasn't solid ground the wolf landed on but part of Noah's Ark hidden in the snow. The floor beneath them tore to shreds with cracks and collapsed under their feet, soldiers screaming as they plunged through the cracks and into the abyss Hasan and Arda fell into earlier.

The giant wolf's paws sank into the sinking floor and it lost its footing. It scrambles to climb back on a solid surface but the more it struggled, the deeper it sank.

The four adventurers would've sunken into the abyss with the soldiers but the grappling hooks had stopped them from falling and left them dangling over the shattering wood.

Bedrettin had managed to get out of the wolf's path but was helpless to do anything as the soldiers fell into the abyss, sliding down the cracks and disappearing from sight. He saw that one of the soldiers managed to climb off the boat in time and was running down the mountain to get away from the wolf.

At least that soldier will survive,he thought before looking over at Cassie.I'll kill you, Cassie Drake. If I'm going to die anyway then I'll take you with me.

He pulled out a knife and held the handle with his mouth before climbing over to Cassie's position.

The giant wolf sank up to its neck in the cracking wood but did not plunge into the abyss yet. It still made an attempt to snap at anything it could get its teeth on and there were several soldiers who slid right into the wolf's open mouth.

Bethany spotted Bedrettin closing in on them and reached out to kick him in the face. It was a weak kick that barely made him flinch. She tried kicking him again but he caught her foot and removed the knife from his mouth once he found a steady footing on the side of the mountain.

Two birds with one stone,Cassie thought.

She took out the grenade she lost and then reacquired earlier, kicked Bedrettin in the face, before pulling the pin and shoving the grenade into Bedrettin's mouth. Derek caught wind of her plan and assisted her in kicking Bedrettin off and into the giant wolf's mouth.

The giant wolf snaps its jaws over Bedrettin's body, gulping him down when the grenade went off in the center of its throat. The giant wolf's thrashing slowly began to cease, its eyes went wide and its movements stiffened. It didn't bother to try and climb up and out of the sinking ship as it finally fell into the abyss, disappearing from sight several seconds later.

Cassie pulled herself and Bethany up the mountain with Derek helping the Priest up until they were back on solid ground. now that they could feel their feet in the snow, they didn't bother waiting nor took the time to watch as snow began tumbling over and burying the remains of Noah's Ark forever.

The four friends ran away from the ark, running down the hill until they found their snowmobiles from earlier. When they were sure that everything was over and they could catch their breaths, they looked back at where the entrance of Noah's Ark had been, solemn looks on their faces.

Derek looked over at Cassie noticing that she was staring with a sad look at the ark. He chose his next words carefully as he approached her.

"Things would be so much easier if things were black and white, but as my grandfather always said, 'the world is a colorful place'."

Burak, Leyla, neither of them was evil and I can't call myself entirely good because my actions endanger everyone around me.

Cassie looked at Derek. "What did you learn from this experience, Derek?"

"Me?" It didn't take long for him to answer. "I learned that there is hope."

The adventure is over, no one's life will be endangered ever again. Derek will NOT have to worry about losing his humanity because I will be there for him.

Cassie smiled warmly at her best friend. "Me too."

"Uhh..." Bethany held her hand up. "I couldn't help but notice you didn't ask what we learned from this experience."

Cassie laughed. "What?"

"I learned to be a better fighter and protector. I knocked out that dramatic soldier with a lantern!"

The Priest laughed. "If there's one thing I learned from this experience, it's this: We're moving to a different city." He looks at his niece. "If Overlord knows where we live and go to school, then we're relocating."

She nodded. "I'll miss my friends but... I understand."

"I was expecting you to kick and scream for a second."

"Never me," she laughed. "Never Belinay 'Bethany' Sadik."

The four of them laughed as they climbed on their snowmobiles.

Like always, Derek opted to ride instead of Cassie but Cassie didn't mind this time. Being on the back meant she can hold Derek and make sure he never let go.

"Home?" Derek asked.

She shook her head.

"No?"

"There's someone we have to look for: Burak and Leyla's child."

"What do you mean?"

"I have to make sure he's taken care of."

Derek nodded. "I agree."

Bethany yelled out to the others, "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

The four of them took off, the sun lowered enough for them to be considered riding off into the sunset.

The last surviving wolf emerged from its hiding spot behind a rock wall and stared down at the retreating snowmobiles. It turned away, deciding they weren't worth the hunt.

Floating above the ark was Noah, a smile graced his face as he waved off to the last humans he will ever see.

Chapter 30: Epilogue - An Abnormal Life

Chapter Text

Overlord Headquarters

Belgrade, Serbia

Alexa sighed to calm her nervousness as she knocked on the door. Vasily stood behind her with his hands laced behind his back as they waited patiently.

"Come in."

Alexa opened the door, letting Vasily inside, before closing the door. She kept her composure as she turned towards the person sitting in the rocking chair in front of her, gazing into the stars.

"My Leader," Alexa spoke softly, "Operation: Aaron failed. Burak and Leyla Uzun are KIA, along with their entire unit, with the exception of two soldiers."

Vasily spoke up, "According to the survivors, Cassie Drake sunk Noah's Ark with all artifacts inside in an avalanche, including Aaron's Rod."

"I see," the Overlord leader replied in a calm voice. "I shouldn't be surprised; Drakeisan Omega target, an S class one."

Vasily rubbed the back of his head. "What are we going to do, my Leader?"

"Move on."

"Move on?"

"When a human dies, life goes on without them; that is what we do here in Overlord. Search for evidence of another mythological city or artifact and start digging."

"What about the Uzuns?" Alexa asked.

"What about them?"

"They deserve some kind of memorial; we are humans like you said, my Leader. Thankfully, their son is now in the custody of his maternal aunt, neither are associated with Overlord in any way."

"We'll avenge Burak and Leyla and we'll make sure their son is taken care of in the hands of his aunt."

Alexa smiled. "That is such great news, my Leader. Does that mean we're finally going to kill Cassie Drake?"

"Negative," the Overlord Leader snapped. "No one lays a hand on Drake; she is invaluable to us. If we play our cards right, she can find our power for us. Keeping her alive will benefit Overlord in the not-so-distant future. Leave Drake alone."

Alexa bowed. "Yes, My Leader, but what are we going to do about avenging the Uzuns?"

"How did Drake come about deciding to find Noah's Ark?"

"According to our soldiers, she was given a treasure chest with a piece of Noah's Ark inside. It was the treasure chest of Alexander Goldman."

"And who gave it to her?"

"Operatives 567692 and 567754, also known as Albert Hurt-Walkins and Anthony Worthington respectively. They were curious as to what was inside the box that they made contact with Drake in her civilian life and handed her the box."

The Overlord Leader snared. "Alexa, as my second-in-command, I am ordering you to Code: Black them."

Alexa saluted. "Yes, my Leader. In fact, I already called them up and had a chat with them. I thought they would put up a fight but they accepted the Code: Black before I could even offer it to them."

"Guilt it seems," Vasily interpreted.

"Two fewer traitors to deal with," the leader growled.

"Yes, my Leader. Wouldn't be good for morale to keep them alive. Let's go see them choke on their own vomit, Alexa."

Alexa smiled. "Sure, Vasily." She looked at her leader. "Are you coming, Vale?"

Vale shook their head. "No, I need some more time to my thoughts."

"Yes, my Leader."

Alexa and Vasily bowed before exiting the room, leaving Vale alone inside.

Cassie Drake,Vale thought,a young troublemaker like you shouldn't be allowed to exist in this world but everyone deserves a chance. I wish you could've joined our side, Drake.If you're not with us, you're against us. But don't worry, I'll make sure the entire world is with me. This world will be a better and fair world and I'll show everyone who denied me my future and destiny all those years ago. I'll show every single one of them.

"Not so fast, Derek."

"Sorry, I just can't help myself."

"Hey, look at that: you didn't pass out again."

"I guess I'm building a tolerance."

"Tolerance my ass."

"It is a nice ass."

"Haha, don't be an idiot or I'm dumping you."

"You wouldn't do that, not after we JUST started dating."

"We've been dating four weeks and we're already sleeping in the same bed; I guess we work fast."

"I've waited so long to touch you, Cassie… especially here… here… and here…"

"Why do you gotta do me dirty like that, D-Man."

"Because you drive me to do crazy things, Cassie-Blanca."

"What we're about to do isn't even a quarter crazy of what we've done a few weeks ago."

"Amen to that."

July 2038

The University of Hawaii in Maui

The dean pulled out the next two certificates and spoke into the mic. "These next two rewards are special ones, and Professor Harvey himself asked if he could give out these awards himself and you know what, why not? Ladies and gentlemen, Professor Harvey!"

The crowd cheered as the loveable archaeologist professor walked on stage and took the two awards. He shook hands with the dean before turning to the mic.

"I'm going to try and make this quick because I have to take my father to a bingo game in ten minutes." The crowd chuckled. "But first, let's take a moment of silence for Albert Hurt-Walkins and Anthony Worthington, who died earlier this month of a drug overdose, and let's not forget them." The crowd took a moment of silence.

Once the moment of silence was up, Harvey decided to start his speech. "These two students of mine, who are receiving these awards, haveearnedthese awards. When I first saw these two kids, I was like 'really, this girl can read Polynesian?' What good was I to a student who knew more than me?" The crowd laughed again. "But it wasn't about this girl knowing more than me in an ancient language I'm sure not a lot of people knows about, it's about what she did."

"Two months after class started, we took a trip to Easter Island to give them hands-on experiences in archaeology and anthropology. These two students went out of their way to go maverick and look for a lost city themselves instead of studying; I still give them extra homework to this day." Chuckle. "But, these two students, they had a passion for archeology and theyknewwhat their dream was. They found remains of an ancient lost city on Easter Island and proved that this city in Polynesia mythos was real. These two have the brains, the brawns, and the talent for going to the uncharted. These two students were meant to be archaeologists. When I told the dean for their accomplishments on Easter Island, it was decided that in addition to getting their masters degrees, they would also get there on the same day."

He looked over to the two students. "Graduating with both a Master's Degree and Ph.D. in archaeology, Cassandra Morgan Drake."

Cassie stepped up to the stage, accepted her reward, and turned to the cheering crowd, and bowed to them before walking off.

"Graduating with both a Master's Degree and Ph.D. in archaeology, and a Master's degree in Art history, Derek Williamson Lowell."

Derek stepped up to the stage, accepting his reward, before thrusting his fist into the air like Superman. He takes a long bow before moving over to where Cassie is sitting."

"Congratulations you two," Harvey praised in the mic, "we hope you achieve greatness." He claps. "Don't forget to credit me as to one who taught the legendary Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell."

Cassie laughed. "Don't worry, Harvey, you're in our good book."

After the graduation ceremony finished, the crowd dissipated to find their parents. Derek ran off to look for his parents and he ran in to wrestle them in a bear hug.

"I'm so proud of you," Derek's mother, Erica, spoke. "My little man's graduated from college with his master'sandPh.D." She hugs him again. "I couldn't be more proud of my baby boy."

Derek's father, Richard, patted his son on the top of his skull. "Good work, son. You've exceeded all of our expectations."

"I'm a Lowell," Derek said, "I'm expected to finish what I started." He looks at his mother. "Wasn't that the code you and your comrades came up with?"

Erica nodded. "We did... I guess Tyler and Alec followed that code a little too extreme in becoming mercenaries."

Derek felt his heart pump in his chest. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought up Tyler and Alec."

Erica shook her head. "It's okay."

Derek smiled nervously. "So, I'll be moving out as soon as possible because I have a job at an archaeology institution."

Richard tilted his head. "No more going on any illegal adventures?"

Derek shook his head. "Nope, we're going to go legit and straight; everything is normal with no chase scenes like the kind you see in movies."

Erica had a look of doubt on her face. "I've seen soldiers make a promise like that and break it; I give it eighteen months max."

Derek looked at his mother like he had been shot. "Have more faith in me, mother, I have self-control."

Erica eyes Cassie. "What about your girlfriend?"

Cassie strolled over to where her parents were, hugging them tight around the neck.

"Look at that," Nate said, "someone finally finished school."

"You'rethe one who should've stayed in school, Dad."

"Well, it's kinda hard when you're on the run."

"I finished school," Elena jumped in, "don'tIget credit."

Cassie shrugged. "Ah well, I guess I'll give credit when credit is due. We're the only two blonde females in the family who went to college and graduated. Horray for Legally Blondes."

Her parents chuckled.

Elean asked, "What's next, Cassie Drake?"

"I have a job at an archaeologist institution andIwill be traveling the world, looking for remains in a very legit and safer fashion."

Nate laughed. "You could always come work for us at D&F Fortunes."

"Nate, she said she wants to make herownlegacy, let her."

"Ya sure?"

Cassie laughed. "I'm sure but if you want to come work atmycompany, you're more than welcome to." She reaches out and hugs her father. "Thanks, Dad."

He hugs her back. "Anytime, Cassie."

She hugs her mom. "Thank you too."

Elena patted the small of her back. "Have fun out there."

"But not too much fun," Nate reminded, "you're still grounded for finding Noah's Ark without us."

Cassie laughed. "Then you'll have to ground me for other things, Dad, because I'll be making a hell of a lot of discoveries."

She looks over at Derek.

Especially with him.

Two Months Later

Cassie and Derek's New Apartment

It was their first week on the job and Cassie was nervous. Her archeology team had discovered an artifact encased in some kind of ancient jewelry that could only be opened by spelling out certain words in the Polynesian language. As Cassie was the foremost expert on the Polynesian language, it was her job to decode it and free this artifact encased in this box of ancient jewelry.

She took her work home and set up the artifact in her study. She used a scalpel and magnifying glass to help her decipher and carve out words. She wasn't a doctor but she had steady fingers and she was centimeters away from putting the tip of the scalpel to the artifact when she heard the front door open. She remembers that Derek went out to get food and she heard her stomach growling. She decided to fill her stomach before doing this project so she set the artifact aside and joined Derek for lunch.

McDonald's was on the menu for lunch and Derek got her a Big Mac and large fries. They sat at the kitchen table, consuming their food in silence before Cassie decided to speak up.

"How was your day?" she asked.

"It was good," he said before putting a fry in his mouth. "This going legit stuff is kinda hard I will admit."

Cassie nodded. "Yeah, we have hours to show up to work, have to follow rules, have to do things separately, it's different from our usual way of doing things."

"But it's strictly safe and legit," Derek reminded, "nothing illegal about it and we're getting paid big bucks. No shooting and no death."

"That's right," Cassie answered, "no thugs, no bandits, no Overlord..."

It had been four weeks since Cassie said that word and she knew why: whenever she said that word, it reminded her that Overlord was still out there; Burak and Leyla Uzun were nothing but lieutenants and the true leader of Overlord was still out there.

At least we checked on Burak and Leyla's son, I hope he is living a good life with his aunt.

"Let's not worry about Overlord," Derek said, more to himself than Cassie, "let's just focus on our new job and solving that artifact in your study."

Cassie agreed. "Come on, let's go." She finished her meal before heading to her study, Derek following.

Together, they worked on solving the artifact. Cassie was the expert on the Polynesian language so Derek drew the symbols for her to decipher. After two hours of work, the duo managed to carve an acorn-shaped hole in the artifact. They still had a lot of work to do but they could see what looked like a diamond in the center with ancient writing.

Cassie smiled and praised herself before her eyes suddenly go heavy. She puts a hand to her stomach and throws up in the trash bin.

Derek held her head back. "Are you okay?"

Cassie looked at him with a pale face. "Was there soy sauce on my burger?"

Derek's eyes went wide. "I didn't know you were allergic to soy, why didn't you say something?!"

"Because hamburgers don't usually have soy sauce." She throws up in the bin again. "I definitely ate something I can digest."

"Let's take a break from work and go to the nurse's office."

"Yeah, sounds like a bad idea."

She threw up on his shirt.

It took them ten minutes to get to the nearest emergency room. Derek was carrying Cassie over his shoulders like a soldier carrying a wounded because he was too impatient with Cassie vomiting in the car. He ran her inside and told her that she might be having an allergic reaction. A couple of doctors came and took her away and by then, the vomiting had stopped.

That's when he took the time to remove his vomit-stained shirt.

After a few hours of waiting, Derek was allowed to visit her in the hospital room to see her in a hospital gown.

She looked at him with amusem*nt, the color in her skin coming back.

"Hey, D-Man," she chuckled, "glad to see you up and about."

"I was about to say the same thing about you."

Cassie shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess the roles are reversed; remember when you went to the hospital because you had orchitis?"

Derek looked away. "Never talk about my inflamed testicl* in front of me."

"At least it wasn't because of an STD."

Derek blushed heavily. "Please, stop."

She decided to show mercy. "I'm done."

The nurse walked into the room holding a clipboard. "Good news, you weren't having an allergic reaction. We can send you home in thirty minutes as soon as we finish this paperwork."

Cassie put a hand to her chest. "That's a relief but what was causing me to throw up?"

"You're pregnant."

The color drained from Cassie's face.

One Week Later

It took five days but Cassie finished removing the artifact from the booby-trapped jewelry but her first big paycheck wasn't the first thing on her mind. She sat at the kitchen table, tapping her finger against her temple as Derek took his hand in his.

"I can't believe I'm up the spout," she said after taking a deep breath. "I'm having a baby growing in my womb right at this moment. A tiny human being growing and taking half the food I'm eating."

"You need to calm down," Derek urged, "the stress is bad for the baby."

"This is why we shouldn't have rushed things," Cassie said, "we barely got a big job and we're already expecting? I'm going to have to eat two hamburgers from now because I'm eating for two!"

"You know that's a myth."

"And I'm going to get so fat."

"You're not fat, you're pregnant."

"And I'm going to have to start wearing maternity clothes and I won't be able to wear jeans. And I won't be climbing any rock walls or swinging like Spider-Man from a grappling hook."

"It's going to be alright," he reassured. "You're thinking of the negatives, think of the positives."

"You don't understand, Derek," Cassie cried, "this is not the right time to be having a baby." She takes something out of her back pocket, a folded piece of paper, and hands it to him. "Look what I got in the mail yesterday."

Derek took the note and read it.

'Congratulation on the baby, Cassie Drake.

-Overlord.'

Derek gasped. "Maybe it's a hoax."

"You're the only person who knows about me being knocked up. This shouldn't have happened," she continued, "we were supposed to have childrenafterOverlord's defeat, not before."

"Why is this such a big deal?"

"Because Overlord isSTILL OUT THERE!"She sank into her chair with tears starting to flow from her eyes. "Overlord is much larger and powerful than we ever imagined and we've barely taken out a fraction, no, more like less than a quarter of a fraction of Overlord. And they know about my pregnancy and my current address?" She puts a hand on her chest to feel it pound with ferocity. "It's not fair, Derek."

Derek sank into his seat, feeling his breath quicken at the thought of his worst enemies knowing about his unborn child. "Even when we try to have a normal life, Overlord has to interfere."

"They called us Omega targets, or at least me," Cassie remembered, "they said that we can be invaluable to them in the future and that's the only reason we're alive. Even if we quit, what's stopping them from kidnapping us and forcing us to look for a lost city? Remember what happened in Romania last year?"

"I remember," Derek said in a low-pitched voice, "I remember."

"Why?" Cassie cried. "Just when we try out for a normal life for once, we're reminded that we're incapable of having a normal life. Not only that, but Overlord and other bad guys will still be looking for lost cities and sooner or later, they're going to strike gold.Andthey can use our son as a tool against us. If Overlord wins, our son will live in a world ruled by tyranny." She slams her fists on the table. "Damn it." She looks Derek in the eyes. "D-Man, we have to take out Overlord completely before they destroy everything."

Derek put a hand on his forehead and gripped his hair hard. "Two against a global terrorist group? We don't stand a chance. The best we can try to do is keep a low profile."

"I want our son to live in harmony and peace and I want us to have a normal life." She sobbed. "But I guess a normal life isn't meant for us."

Derek stood up and punched a hole in the wall. He pulled his fist out and rubbed a hand over his bloody knuckles. Cassie went to the kitchen to get a paper towel and held it over his wounded hand.

"You could abort," Derek suggested with great reluctance.

She shook her head. "No, I willnotabort this child." She put a hand to her stomach. "Ourchild."

Derek nodded absentmindedly as he stared at the ground. He slid down the wall and sat on the seat of his pants. He made a fist with his bloody knuckles, causing more blood to gush out. "This is Overlord's way of trying to make our life a living hell." He pulled his lips back to grind his teeth. "We won't let them."

Cassie looked at him. "What?"

"Overlord is saying we can't ever live a normal life because of them but I say let's prove them wrong." He grabs her hand. "I say we enjoy our life together."

"What do you mean?"

"We show Overlord that, even if they know about our child and our current, soon-to-be-past, residence, we will not deny ourselves the pleasures of a normal life."

Cassie looked him in the eyes. "We just have a normal life in our abnormal life? Is that what you're saying?" She bit her lower lip when she saw him nod. She took a seat next to him against the wall and stared off into space with a sigh. "I get what you're saying and I agree with you, D-Man."

"You do?"

"My parents, they made a lot of enemies in the world and they managed to walk away and they had me. When I was born, they kept their life a secret. We have a lot of enemies out there but we're having a child on the way." Her hand remained on her stomach. "I want my son to grow up with a normal life but I also don't want Overlord to exist anymore. The way I see it, the only way to protect our son and give him what he deserves, we can't give up our abnormal life."

Derek looked at her with furrowed eyes. "What do you mean?"

"We go back to our treasure-hunting lives but we make sure our son is given the most normal life he can ever have. We devote everything in our treasure-hunting life to stopping Overlord once and for all. In our civilian life, we are normal Mother Cassie and Father Derek to our son."

Derek smiled warmly. "I like that idea. But our treasure-hunting jobs come with risks of death and more to come."

"Then we'll have to make sure that Overlord falls into the traps before us. Either way, in order to have a normal life for our son, we have to see through our abnormal life. We take down Overlord once and for all and make sure theyneverwin."

"It's just going to be the two of us but sooner or later, we'll find the leader of Overlord and kill him... or her."

Cassie looked down at her stomach. "Our son..." she whispered.

"Our son," he repeated.

"Our greatest treasure."

"Our greatest treasure."

"If it's a boy, I'm naming him."

"That's not fair, why do you get to name him?"

"BecauseI'mthe one who's going to be carrying him for nine months."

"That doesn't seem fair, I had inflamed testicl*s when I was eighteen so I should be able to name our son."

"If it's a girl, then you can name her."

"Why can't I name our son if it's a boy, I have a bunch of boy names."

"I don't want to hear your boy names."

"Please, maybe we have the same names in common."

Cassie sighed. "What names were you thinking of?"

"Henry?"

Cassie looked at him like he shot her dog. "'Henry', we are not naming my son that."

"Why not, 'Henry' sounds so classical. Or we could go with Francis."

Cassie shook her head. "No, not Francis."

"But, I thought Sir Francis Drake was your ancestor?"

"He is but I'm not naming my firstborn after an old man who slept with women in different countries."

"That's not fair, you were named after your grandmother."

"Cause 'Cassandra' sounds nice."

"You like that name because itisyour name."

"Why don't we play for it?"

"Like what?"

"Crash Bandicoot?"

"That game is like 90 years old."

"And you still can't top my high score. If you can beat my high score, you can name our son."

"Yeah, get ready to eat some crow, Cassie."

"Crow?" She thought for a second. "I'll have to look up the recipe for that sometime." She laughed.

Cassie Drake,she thought to herself,legendary treasure hunter, archaeologist, and mother.

I think I would be fine with just the mother part.

The End of Chapter 10