19988/Tears of the Evangelists

Tears of the Evangelists
Date of Scene:	15 February 2025
Location:	The Submerged Tunnels of the Evangelists beneath Rome
Synopsis:	The Adventurer's Club journeys through the water submerged tunnels of the Evangelists, on a high speed chase against would-be thieves of the Crown of Ages.
Cast of Characters:	Lara Croft, Patience Alperen, Cinque Evers, Remy LeBeau

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Lara Croft has posed:
The roar of retreating engines echoed through the flooded tunnels, the enemy's speedboat carving a foamy path through the dark waters ahead. In the chaos of the sanctum's collapse, Steven and Kate had been forced to remain behind, tending to their own wounds and ensuring their exit route stayed secured. But there was no time to wait - Lara and the others had a chase to win.  

Cold water surged around their knees as the team clambered into the abandoned speedboat, its hull bobbing wildly from the rush of the underground currents. Lara was already at the controls, her fingers slick but steady as they gripped the ignition. With a sharp twist, the engine roared to life, coughing out a burst of exhaust that drifted toward the cavern ceiling. Ahead, the fleeing enemies sped through the tunnel, their wake rippling against the stone walls, the stolen Crown of Ages likely in their grasp.  

A muzzle flash burst from the enemy boat. Gunfire cracked through the cavern, the bullets ripping across the water's surface and thudding against the rocky tunnel walls. Lara ducked instinctively as sparks flew off the edge of their own boat. "They're not going to make this easy," she muttered, her expression set with determination.  

Then, another engine roared to life - not from ahead, but from the side. Shadows peeled away from a smaller tunnel as two more enemies emerged on sleek black jet skis, carving through the water at high speed. One of them lifted a submachine gun, opening fire with a spray of bullets that tore into the stone, sending chunks of debris into the air. The other revved his engine, angling to intercept.  

Lara threw one last glance back to ensure her team was aboard. "Hold on!" she called, her voice cutting through the din of rushing water and revving motors. Then, with a push of the throttle, the boat lurched forward, its nose lifting as it surged ahead into the blackness of the tunnels. The chase was on, and the fight for the Crown of Ages had only just begun.

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen slid over the side of the boat and steadied herself as the gunfire erupted. Frowning, she ducked and nodded to Lara. "If you want to drive, I can send them our regards if you can get us close.." She holds her twin pistols, a determined expression on her features.

As the additional enemy reinforcements reveal their presence, she spun around. "Well they just keep trying to make this more interesting, don't they?"

Aiming for the jetskier with the SMG, she fires off a volley of rounds to keep the driver's head down and disrupt his aim.

"Lara, you didn't happen to bring a goodie bag along that we didn't notice? We really could use a bit more firepower right now" she shouts over the gunfire, echoes and roar of engines.

Cinque Evers has posed:
Cinque lands nimbly on the speeding boat, his ebony colored duster billowing in the wind as he fluidly spins his modified Navy Colt revolvers into position. With a steadying stance, he braces himself against the boat's momentum, his sharp gaze locked onto their targets.

Over the roar of the engine and the crashing waves, he calls out to Lara, his voice edged with both confidence and something darker. "Do you want prisoners, or shall I deliver them death?"

A subtle smirk hides beneath his mask, a nod to his costume identity.

. Yet, even as adrenaline pulses through his veins and the thrill of the chase unfolds, he feels it...that creeping apathy stirring in the depths of his mind, dulling the fire that once burned so fiercely.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
The Ponte Cavour isn't one of the famous bridges people come to Rome for, but it's a nice place to walk and it overlooks the Tiber. Remy LeBeau has his phone in hand, firing off a text message full of a promise to be on his way home. The portal should be somewhere off the Via Ulpiano, apparently. He's carrying a paper bag from an expensive boutique, already mourning his wallet when he hears the gunfire and reving of engines.

Don't get involved, LeBeau. This ain't your problem. This ain't your problem.

Then, before he even really understands what he's doing, he's flinging himself over the bridge in time to land on the front of the speed boat. He keeps his footing, but reaches out to grip the windscreen to steady himself.

"Hey, need a hand?"

What looks to be a playing card slips from the sleeve of his coat, flung at one of the pursuing jetskis as it takes on a sinister aura of pink energy.

Lara Croft has posed:
Patience's well-timed shots forced one of the jet ski drivers to veer sharply, his vehicle catching the wake of their speedboat. He swerved wildly, barely managing to keep control before careening off-course, narrowly avoiding a fate sealed by gunfire. Sparks flew where bullets struck stone, sending jagged chunks of rock in all directions.  

At the helm, Lara gritted her teeth and angled their boat down an adjacent tunnel, keeping tight on the tail of the fleeing vessel carrying their target. Beams of sunlight slashed through the darkness, filtering in through narrow gaps high above. They passed beneath the last sliver of daylight - just as a shadow loomed overhead.  

The impact came a second later. A figure dropped onto the bow, boots landing solidly. Lara's sharp eyes snapped upward, locking onto the man now steadying himself against the windscreen.  

Friendly? Was he friendly?  

"All the help you can offer!" she called back to Remy, shifting her focus to the chase. Whatever side he was on, she'd take the backup.  

She didn't have to wait long for his answer. A charged playing card slipped from his sleeve, glowing with an eerie pink hue before it streaked toward the second jet ski. The card struck the vehicle's nose, detonating in a violent bloom of magenta energy. The jet ski buckled midstream, its rider loosing a strangled scream as he was flung through the air, flipping end-over-end before vanishing beneath the churning black waters.  

"I think he just answered your question!" Lara shouted toward Cinque over the roar of the engines and the chaos of gunfire.  

She yanked the controls hard, cutting their boat through another sharp turn, keeping pace with their quarry as the tunnel expanded ahead.  

"We're almost on them!" she called, just as gunfire from the fleeing speedboat erupted again. The shots streaked past Gambit, ricocheting off the tunnel walls in bursts of shattered stone and dust. Pebbles and debris rained over them as their boat knifed through the storm, never losing speed.  

Both vessels burst into a massive underground chamber. Looming at its center, a colossal ventilation fan turned sluggishly, its rusted blades stretching four or five times the length of their boats. The blades groaned as they pushed air toward corroded grates high above, the only exit for the choking dust and mist that hung thick in the air.  

Carved into the walls, the statues of the Evangelists towered two stories high, their weathered stone faces peering solemnly down at the unfolding chaos below. Their lifeless gazes watched the desperate chase as if bearing silent witness to the sins of men.  

The lead boat's crew wrestled with their controls, trying to time their passage between the deadly, spinning blades. But they weren't done fighting. Another volley of gunfire erupted from their deck, forcing Lara to swerve once more as bullets carved through the water.  

Behind them, the last jet ski roared into the chamber, its rider undeterred. He raised his submachine gun, taking aim at their boat - ready to unleash hell...

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen cast a glance over her shoulder as the figure drops onto the bow. As he begins throwing, erm, cards? The fact they explode is, probably, a value added bonus?

"One of my questions at least" she agrees.

Taking only a moment to glance around the large chamber, she sees the statues. "This may be our next destination from the look of things.." But there is little time to dwell on historic significances as the gun battle prepares to resume. Raising her pistols again, she fires the last of both clips at the remaining jet ski to try and damage the engine enough to stop the gunman's pursuit.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"Alright, cher," Remy says, casting a sly grin in Lara's direction, "Consider the help offered."

The burst of gunfire seems to draw his attention, and he moves with the kind of grace that suggests something is not quite normal about him. If the playing cards didn't already give that away. He dips his head, throwing himself into the boat proper so he's no logner trying to balance on the wet bow.

"So, blow these guys up? I can do that."

Cinque Evers has posed:
Cinque nods briskly as Lara responds, his focus already shifting. His sharp gaze follows Patience as she takes aim at the pursuing speedboat. Without hesitation, he lifts one of his revolvers to his lips and murmurs, "Burn."

A mechanical whir vibrates through the weapon as the ammunition shifts to incendiary rounds. Flames dance along the edges of the chamber, reflecting in his steady eyes.

Ahead, the lead speedboat hurtles forward, unaware it is about to become the prey of Cinque?s accelerated perception which gifts him with the ability that fractures time around him, allowing his mind to process every variable with superhuman precision. The velocity of the boat, the force of the wind, the precise distance to his targets. Each factor computes in a fraction of a second, feeding into his already deadly marksmanship.

With calculated efficiency, he fires at the different riders aboard the speeding vessel. Before the echoes of gunfire fully fade, Cinque throws himself backward to avoid the slicing path of the oncoming ventilation blades.

Lara Croft has posed:
The lead enemy boat hurtled perilously close to the massive rusty fan blades, narrowly avoiding collision as its driver jerked the wheel to steer clear of the spinning death trap. Meanwhile, Patience's steady aim proved deadly; her shot took out the second jet ski, its engine sputtering as it careened directly into the fan. The jet ski rider let out a blood-curdling scream as the blades tore through his craft, sending him tumbling into the chaos below.  
  
Lara's eyes flared with adrenaline as she caught Gambit's eye. "I'll take all the help you can offer stopping that lead boat - but try not to cause a cave-in, alright?" she barked over the cacophony of roaring engines and splintering stone.  

Cinque's incendiary rounds burst from his pistols, lighting up the Chamber of the Evangelists, as round after round poured forward toward the gunmen lining up another shot with his automatic rifle!  Cinque's rounds connected with the gun toting man's hip, chest and shoulder, causing him to scream in agony, before he tumbled off of the corner of the lead boat, splashing down in to the ebony hued water, his comrades speeding off ahead down a darkened tunnel passage!
  
"Nice shot!" Lara called out, as she glanced over her shoulder to see Cinque, and Patience armed to the tooth.  "Seems our goody bag ccame in the form of a man with explosive cards!" She shouted back to the Magdalena, as they emerged into the main corridor, Lara noticed that the enemy lead boat had vanished, swallowed by the murky passage ahead. Instead, a colossal waterfall loomed, its torrential cascade thundering down the tunnel.  
  
"Oh god... Hang on!" Lara called out, her voice laced with fear for what was to come ahead! Without a moment to lose, Lara twisted the throttle, and the boat launched off the waterfall's edge. For a heart-stopping two stories of free-fall, darkness enveloped them as the vessel plunged, the roar of rushing water drowning out all else. With a violent splash, the speedboat crashed into the pool below, fish tailing to one side, as it took on a wave of water over the edges to the starboard and port sides, before it leapt back to action, and roared back to life, propelling the team forward in pursuit of the lead boat again.

Up ahead, the lead boat was pulling up to the side of an underground dock, a stone port where they were rapidly anchoring their speed boat to an old metal hook.

"We have to stop them before they vanish in to the tunnels!" Lara called out, as three men were disembarking from the lead boat, while the Lara piloted theirs in to the new chamber, a wake of white water waving out behind them in the midst of this huge underground pool.

From the stone dock, one of the trio of men raised a hand, and lobbed two primed explosives in to the pool ahead of the pursuing boat, causing Lara to tug hard to the side once more, as a geyser of water columns shot up in to the air, yet more explosives meant to stop them from discovering the truth behind this mysterious attack.

Patience Alperen has posed:
As they plunge over the waterfall, Patience braces as best she can. The splace from the boat reaching the bottom of the plunge leaves her a bit soaked and she looks to the bow to see if their mysterious new traveling companion was still with them or not.

As Lara swerves to avoid the explosives thrown in their direction, Patience finds herself bracing once more. Steadying herself, she fires at the fleeing figures as they try to get clear of the dock.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
His task before him, and Cinque and Patience seeming more than capable of providing overwatch, Remy sets his eyes on the lead boat. He can't remember if he's ever been on a speed boat before. Probably, but he definitely wasn't being shot at that time. As it pulls into the dock, he glances around. He's still got his shopping in his hand which, with a grunt, he picks up and keeps in one hand.

He'll be doing this fight single-handed, it seems. Get it?

A card is charged with a low burst of kinetic energy, not enough to harm. He tosses it ahead of him towards one of the fleeing men, aiming to blast a small pothole in the ground before him and throw him off his footing. He's already moving to give chase.

Cinque Evers has posed:
As Cinque regains his footing after narrowly dodging the ventilation fan, the chaos around him intensifies. The boat plunges over the edge of a waterfall, gravity yanking them downward, then explosions erupt around them.. Amid the deafening blasts and the rush of freefall, he begins to multitask as his mind goes to a past memory: one of a rundown hotel he once called home.

The place had been little more than four cracked walls, a thin mat on the floor, and a secondhand TV, his first indulgence, purchased with blood money. That screen had flickered with stories of outlaws and gunfighters, and among them, The Wild Bunch had left its mark on him.

As he steadies himself, his gaze shifts to his allies. Lara, ever daring, always charging forward. Patience, courageous and unyielding in the face of danger. And their newest companion, the enigmatic card-thrower. Watching them, a line from that old western surges to the forefront of his mind: a quote from William Holden?s Pike Bishop. His powers allow him to remember it in such vivid detail that he can still recall the musty scent of the hotel room, the muffled city noise creeping through the broken window.

The energy of the moment overtakes him, pushing pass through his apathy, he roars the same rallying cry that once stirred something deep inside him:

"We?re gonna give ?em war!"

Cinque charges forward, guns blazing, hot on the heels of his enemies.

Lara Croft has posed:
The chaos on the dock reached its peak as Patience and Cinque swiftly took out two of the three remaining enemy men with precise, echoing shots that left them slumped against the stone

Gambit's charged card whistled through the air, striking the third man squarely and sending him reeling backward. As he staggered toward the dock's edge, Lara seized her chance.

With a burst of determination, Lara leaped from the speedboat as it slammed into the dock, water spraying around her. In a single fluid motion, she tackled the last attacker, pinning him hard against the rough stone.

Pinned beneath her, the man clutched a canvas bag tightly to his chest. His eyes widened in disbelief as he looked up at Lara, his face a mix of shock and terror.

"What's in the bag?" Lara demanded, her voice cold and unyielding as the echoes of the firefight faded into the tense silence on the dock.

Lara kept her full body weight on the man's form beneath her. She held his shoulders down, as she stared directly down in to his wide eyes, water dripping from the tendrils of wet hair that draped down from the sides of her face.

"Patience.  Take the bag, see what is in it... Cinque, check that passage doorway, make sure there is nobody else coming." Lara said, her breathing rapid, as she squirmed a bit on the man beneath her.

"don't try anything..." Lara warned him, causing him to shake his head and speak something in a fearful sounding voice, spoken in Italian.

Cinque Evers has posed:
Cinque nods to Laura again as he pulls out his infrared goggles to help him keep watch down the tunnel. He holsters his Navy Colt Revolvers as they wait for them to charge and pulls out his Bowie Knives. Cinque positions himself to keep an eye of the tunnel, and make sure they cannot be flanked.

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen isn't far behind Lara as she also jumps onto the dock. "I don't forsee any cruises in my near future" she mutters.

As Lara tackles one of the men, she nods and moves quickly to wrest the bag away from the man with her right hand, while her left still holds one of her pistols at the ready.

The brief tug of war eventually ends in her favor and she steps back, "Got it" she offers, before carefully opening the bag to check its contents. From the look on her face it is something worthy of reverence and awe.

Stepping away from the others, her back turned to them, she holstered her pistol and knelt to carefully take an item from within the bag. The flowing edges of her cloak helps to conceal her actions from behind. After a moment, her movements suggest replacing the object into the bag and she rises, turning to look at Lara.

"It's not the Crown, Lara. But it's... it'll help us I think. And it's valuable in its own way. Unless you think the others are escaping with anything else of value, we should get out of here and regroup." She casts a glance toward Remy, "Somewhere secure."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"Hey, don't look at me, cher," Remy says, standing off to the side without a clear role in this action adventure now that the trouble has concluded. He raises two hands up, both sporting fingerless gloves that simply scream thief.

"I'm not even from here. I'm just on vacation."

He looks around for a moment, still clutching his purchases in their bag.

"Don't suppose you could show me the way out? Google maps doesn't have secret underground tunnels in it -- "

Before he can finish his sentence, however, what looks to be a shimmering portal to somewhere very much not here opens behind him. A well-appointed study in some manor house somewhere.

"Oh, nevermind, ride's here. Ciao bella!"

He steps through, the portal snaps shut, he is gone. Weird.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara sat up and released the man beneath her as Patience took the bag. The man crawled backward on his elbows, watching the group as Patience revealed the contents they were making off with. Now on her feet, Lara turned to observe what Patience had uncovered. She was about to speak when Remy's portal opened behind him - its interior strangely familiar, reminiscent of her London manor, though it was clearly not that - prompting her to murmur, "Who the hell..." before the portal vanished. She finished her thought, "--are you..." then exhaled softly and returned her gaze to Patience. Stepping closer, she leaned in to examine the scroll in Patience's hands; its preservation was remarkable, and the visible text made her mind race with possibilities.

"The Crown of Ages is not meant to fall into the hands of the common person," the man suddenly declared in calm English. "It is a sacred item, meant only for those chosen to be the deliverers of God's will upon this world."

Lara stared at him, then exchanged a meaningful look with Patience before motioning toward her. "This is the Magdalena, and I believe she fits that role well. The Crown is in jeopardy of falling into the wrong hands, and I suspect that is what you and your men were trying to do here today..."

"You are wrong, Lady Croft," he replied, shaking his head. "We are the protectors of this place, guarding the resting place of the Crown of Ages as we await the true worthy soul to wear it and proclaim the will of our Lord for us to follow and obey. You are meddling in matters far beyond your understanding..."

Lara regarded him with a nearly blank expression before releasing a tired exhale. "I usually am, but... I'm a fast learner." Glancing at Patience, she nodded. "Let's go catch up with Cinque and find the others," she said softly as she moved past the man toward the stone steps leading up to the passage Cinque had entered.

"Be mindful of the shadows, Lady Croft, for your real enemies are closing in," he warned.

Lara glanced back as she ascended the steps and offered a mere smirk before turning to Patience. "You're alright, right?" she asked, her eyes scanning for any sign of injury upon the woman's form.

The group went on to navigate their way out of the tunnels, and back to their hotel.  They gathered around the recovered scroll, and decided it was time to begin the trip back to New York...