10993/Artifacts and Archery

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Artifacts and Archery
Date of Scene: 02 May 2022
Location: Somewhere in the Amazon rainforest.
Synopsis: Lara and Clint bust into an ancient ruin and liberate an artifact from the undead!
Cast of Characters: Lara Croft, Clint Barton




Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara jumps from tree to tree like a monkey. She follows this with a swing on a vine to land on a small plateau overlooking a stretch of land, rolling at the landing. When she comes out of the roll, she quickly draws her bow, firing an arrow leading a rope through the forest the way she'd come, then stabs the other end of that rope into a wrapped trunk to create a zipline. After all, SHIELD agents may be athletic, but not many have Lara's penchant for hardcore parkour.

Clint Barton has posed:
    Meanwhile, Clint Barton trots along on the ground level, bow slung over his back, quiver at the ready. He takes a bit of a more leisurely, and frankly less entertaining pace, but ultimately gets to the same place as Lara does. "You look way better doing that than I do, I gotta admit."

Lara Croft has posed:
    "Use the zipline to get down to me," Lara calls out. She takes the moment to start climbing a tall tree where she is, likely to get an idea of both where they are and where they're going. Granted, Clint sees things better from far away, and as a sniper with arrows, his eyesight HAS TO be superb, but Lara is just doing what comes naturally to her.

Clint Barton has posed:
    "I know what a zip line is for. I'm not _that_ old." Clint mutters as he heads to the zip line. "Kids today, no respect." He scans the area for a moment from his vantage point and then pulls out his bow, using it to slide along the zip line.
    He drops off at the bottom and looks up to Lara. "Where to now, chief?"

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara soon climbs down from the tree, dropping the last ten feet or so like it's nothing. She brushes off her arms and body of bark bits from her climb. "We're close," she says. "I can see what looks like it could be the temple from here." She gestures a direction. "That way. You need a breather?" She isn't even a little bit out of breath, despite running, jumping, swinging from trees, and swimming pretty much constantly since they were dropped off.

Clint Barton has posed:
    "No," snaps Clint indignantly. The heaving of his chest might imply otherwise, but he isn't about to let it show. "Let's go." He trots off in the direction indicated after stowing his bow over his back again.

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara jogs on, passing Clint and climbing an uneven wall covered with vines as easily as if it were a ladder. She stops near the top, lowering herself down a bit. She hesitates before calling down at him. "Someone's maintianing the traps in here," she says. "Be careful."

Clint Barton has posed:
    "Show off," Clint mutters under his breath. He gets the last laugh though as he watches her rear as she jobs ahead. Something something old bull walk down the hill.
    "Thanks for the heads up," he calls up to her before scaling at a similar pace to her. He may not look as good doing it, but he's just as effective.

Lara Croft has posed:
    It's nice to have someone who can keep up with a rich kid who does nothing but practice parkour in her free time. She climbs up and carefully assesses the steps NOT to take. "Doesn't look like there are any pressure plates or spots for spikes or darts or arrows to come out of the walls, yet," she says, turning on her lantern. "But I smell an animal smell in here. Get your bow ready." Like she had to tell Hawkeye that.

Clint Barton has posed:
    Clint might be ... twice her age? But he still manages to scale and catch up to her. He sniffs at the air. "Something big." Another sniff. "Rotting flesh. Not a scavenger." He unslings the bow.
    "look alive. You wanna draw it out, speedy?"

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara brings out her own bow, lighting an arrow that would serve as another source of light, but also burn whatever the thing was. "Such Chivalry," she proclaims in a dry quip. She moves forward, leading the way into the ruins proving she's not averse to danger, even if she doesn't want to be used as bait. Lara is, among other things, a woman undriven by fear, if she has any at all.

Clint Barton has posed:
    "I thought feminism killed all that," replies Clint. He walks sideways, arrow nocked and drawn, ready to swing and fire if need be.
    "Look, if you were interested in a real date, let me know. I'd take you to a much nicer place. I'd probably even pull your chair out for you."

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara tests each step going forwards. She squints against the darkness farther away. "Not really taken by romantic gestures," she says. "But free chocolates are always nice if you want to beat your head against that wall," she adds playfully. She steps into a large room with light streaming in from above. There's a pool formed in the center, along with a lot of human bones on the playground of climbables for someone like Lara to jump around on.

Clint Barton has posed:
    "I've beaten my head against worse walls, trust me." The light hearted banter is a cover - Clint is clearly focused on what is going on, the room around them, and the way the contours of the room are.
    He glances towards the bones. "Looks like we're not the first ones to make this mistake."

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara stops. She squints at one of the walls, then fires her lit arrow into one of the piles of corpses. In the light, it and the wall behind it are obvious crawling with something like lizards, but not a species Lara's ever seen before. One pads up the bare skull and begins nomming on the flaming section of arrow, not seeming bothered by the fire. Another looks at where the arrow came from. It opens its mouth and belches fire like a trick lighter, shooting it a few feet. Smoke begins billowing from the ash-black lizard mouths as they seem now intently focused on the human intruders. "Clint!" Lara says, swinging her bow to stow it and drawing her suppressed pistol.

Clint Barton has posed:
    "oh, sure, NOW it's all "Ohhhh, Clint!"" he says, mimicking a fairy tale princess's cry for help. An arrow is already flying at the lizards, a concussive blast that sends them scattering.
    "Ok, maybe not the best plan." He draws and unleashes a flurry of arrows that explode into foam, which stun the lizards that it impacts, and extinguishes the flames that I touches.

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara dodges one's flame breath and stomps on it. "Too many to be baby dragons," she says. She looks at the water in the center of the room. She then looks around at the lack of other exits. "How long can you hold your breath?" she asks. "Or do you have an arrow to help you breathe under-water?" Without waiting for a response, she runs the gauntlet of a few scattered fire-breathers, doing a swan dive into the pool, disappearing from view, along with her light.

Clint Barton has posed:
    Clint watches Lara dive kit the pool and sighs. "Don't let the kid get to you, Clint." He reaches into his belt and pulls out a small aqua breather and places it into his mouth. "Work smarter not harder." He runs at the pool firing a few more arrows and then takes a leap into the water.

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara's got lungs that would put a pearl diver to shame, and she's quite a strong swimmer. Thankfully, though the dive is long, it ends in a location that does NOT smell like the previous one. Apparently lizards filled with fire can't (or don't want to at least) swim. By the time Clint has swam through, Lara's already found herself some ancient text to read. She notices Clint coming out of the water, looking back at him before she waves him over. "Come look at this," she says, excitedly.

Clint Barton has posed:
    Dripping wet, Clint soggily walks over towards Lara, reaching up to pull the breather out. "Found something?" he asks, perhaps unnecessarily. He shakes out each of his feet to dislodge the extra water, and stows the breather back in his belt. He glances in the direction of her attention. "Something old, looks like."

Lara Croft has posed:
    "It's fascinating," Lara says, focused like a laser on the ancient writings. She begins to translate like this ancient, long-dead tongue is something she took three years of in high school and spent every saturday morning watching cartoons of growing up. "The Earth Mother's blessing upon you, only turn back and do not defile her holy temple, or she will remove the gift of life from your bones." She stands from where she was squatting, looking around. The skeletons in this area are all a lot older and are organized and arranged in tight cubicles that one might store one's lunchbox in at school. The skulls look out on Lara and Clint silently as they stand in the area. Finally looking at Clint, Lara says, "Onward?"

Clint Barton has posed:
    "Uh. I don't know. I kind of like the gift of life to remain in my bones, y'know?" Clint scratches at his temple, looking around slowly. "It seems pretty clear that she wants us to turn back, right? Or do we go onward and _not_ defile?" He frowns at the skeletons, and then looks back at Lara. "Are you familiar with this Earth's Mother?"

Lara Croft has posed:
    "One of the gods of life these people believed in," Lara explains. This was, after all, her jam. Her bread and butter. Her crackers and mustard. She continues, "Unfortunately, this is an official mission, so we don't have the option to not defile." She keeps her weapon holstered, however, as she starts forward. "Just a shame I can't keep any of these things on official missions."

Clint Barton has posed:
    "Uh, the warning said _not_ to defile, at the risk of the gift of life leaving our bones. That seemed like a pretty clear message." Clint looks around a bit nervously. "What are we after here, anyway, if I might ask?"

His gaze continues to sweep around, still on edge. Still looking for possible foes. Or...curses.

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara stops, turning to look at Clint. She's at first confused, but quickly remembers that she works for an organization of spies. Sorry, all caps, because they like their acronyms: SPIES. She thinks for a moment, wondering how much she's supposed to tell him. "Well, one of the enemies of freedom we're against mentioned wanting to get their hands on an artifact in this temple. It's been sacred to the people here for a long time, and they think they can twist its purpose to control where crops grow and don't grow. Kind of a powerful thing, if it works."

Clint Barton has posed:
    Clint groans. "So instead of letting the ancient guardian continue to keep watch over it, we're going to steal it before the enemies of freedom have a chance to." He roll his eyes. He's seen this movie before. He's been in this movie before. It never seems to end well. "Alright. Lead on." He follows along with her. "Do we have a plan to get out after we do the defiling? Isn't that usually when the waters rise, or the lava emerges, or the rocks start to fall?"

Lara Croft has posed:
    "I've been in that situation before," Lara says. "We'll assess the situation and do what we need to do. Just keep a level head, and we'll get out alright."
    After a few traps and puzzles that Lara was able to figure out after rushing ahead, the two finally arrive in the chamber they were looking for. Despite being far underground, there are thousands of bioluminescent species in the large chamber. It's like being in a server room with all the lights flashing with activity. There's not enough light to read by, but there's lots to keep the agents from stubbing their toes or tripping over anything. "Are you seeing this?" Lara asks, walking into the lush, underground landscape. "I feel like I'm in a fantasy story."

Clint Barton has posed:
    Clint is seeing this. His gaze moves around the room, the glow reflecting in his eyes, adding shadows to his face. "Yeah, until it becomes a horror story." He continues to move along following Lara, despite his words to the contrary, seemingly content to remain with her as her backup. "And don't worry about me keeping a level head - trust me, it takes a lot to make Clint Barton panic."

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara walks to the rough center of the space, finding a fat booby statue with somewhat ridiculously wide hips made of gold. "That looks like a fertility goddess," she says. She looks at the pedestal here and there. There's no writing on it anywhere, and there's vines covering a lot of it, anyway. She does exactly what she said, inspecting it over and over again, along with everything else. It's too perfect. Gotta be a trap, right? If it was a movie, there would be a trap. Lara can't find one, though, and picks the statue up. She glances around, ducking proactively, but nothing. "Okay," she says, putting it in her pack. Swinging the pack around herself, she clips it around her stomach. "I don't feel dead," she says. "You feel dead?"

Clint Barton has posed:
    "Looks like one of my ex-girlfriends." Clint winces as Lara picks it up, and looks around quickly, head on a swivel. "Maybe she sucks the gift of life from our bones slowly?" He looks at Lara, and purses his lips. "Well, if I get drained, at least I got drained in good company." He turns back from whence they came. "Let's go!"

Lara Croft has posed:
    "Oh, stop flirting," Lara says, playfully. "At least give me the free chocolates." She begins jogging the way they came, a look on her face like it was already a job well done. As the two get back to the area with the skeletons in boxes, she suddenly stops, holding up her right arm, hand balled into a fist. Stop signal. She is quiet. "Do you hear that?" she asks. Her eyes widen slightly as the skeletons begin tugging themselves out of their little cubby holes. Lara draws her pistol. "Walking dead!" she proclaims, as if Clint can't also see what's in front of them.

Clint Barton has posed:
    "Chocolates are never free," mutters Clint, as he trots along behind Lara again. He stops quickly as she does, bow already out and with an arrow nocked. He rolls his eyes as her question. "You're asking the guy with the hearing aids?" He frowns a bit as he sees the skeletons start to shuffle. "Damnit...look, don't laugh at me, ok, I keep this for nostalgia, and it just so happens it'll be useful." He switches out arrows, and the next one he draws and fires. As it heads towards the skeletons, it expands out to take the shape of a large red boxing glove. It smashes into the skeletons and sends bones scattering. "Move that ass, Croft. We gotta get out of here. They won't stop."

Lara Croft has posed:
    "You don't get to talk about my ass without free chocolates!" Lara says, firing several times. The bones break easily enough, but they're definitely outnumbered, and arming themselves quickly. She sprints through the hole the two have created, then swan-dives into the water. One lunges for her and falls into the water. It doesn't need to breathe, but it can't swim, so it just starts walking along the bottom of the area they're trying to get through.

Clint Barton has posed:
    "If I bail your ass out of this, I get to talk about it all I want!" Clint retorts as he takes off at a run. He fishes out the aquabreather and slips it into his mouth before firing off another two wedge arrows. As one of the skeletons rises he runs up the front of it to gain some height before flipping over it to dive into the water. He swims down quickly, moving behind Lara, putting distance between him and the skeletons;

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara has enough time at the far end to gasp for breath before ducking back under hastily. Light shines from above. Apparently lizards are still a thing. Holding her breath, she looks urgently at Clint, waiting for him to pull something impressive out of his...quiver.

Clint Barton has posed:
    If it is possible to roll one's eyes underwater, Clint Barton does just that. He shakes his head and points at Lara, as if indicating some sort of debt is about to be incurred. He pulls one of his arrows out from his quiver and then propels himself up by his legs alone. Just before breaking the water, he aims up, extending his arms above the water and fires an arrow upward. There is a flash of light, dulled by the water's refraction, but likely blinding outside of it. And then he pulls himself out of the water, moving away quickly.

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara would sigh, but...underwater. She turns and notices the skeletons are almost upon her, which is always fun. She pulls herself up out of the water as the lizards blow their fiery breath up toward the shining arrow. It's hot, but not aimed at Lara. A couple don't, and DO aim at Lara, but she's weat, and just rushes through it, hardly even dried, let alone singed. She follows Clint, able to keep up with him, but the two were both moving at the speed of adrenaline. They reach the outside entrance, and Lara jumps like it's an action movie into the forest.

Clint Barton has posed:
    Clint runs along with Lara, occassionally firing an arrow back at the lizards. "I feel like I've done this one too many times." He sees her jump, and frowns a bit. "Damnit." Likewise, he leaps out from the edge and twists to look back in the direction of the leap, firing an arrow up to catch at a perch. He does not seem content to rely upon chance to deliver him a handle on whatever he needs to avoid going splat below.

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara has gotten to the ground like a champ, still not even sweating, though she's still soaking wet from their dip. "Clint, can you bring that entrance down?" she says. "Still got skeletons on my-ass-which-you're-still-not-allowed-to-talk-about," she continues in the same breath.

Clint Barton has posed:
    Conveniently, Clint is lowering himself down slowly. Since he used that hook and line. Smarter, not harder. "Sure thing." He fires off a few arrows that arc towards the entrance, exploding to drop down a pile of rocks to block off the skeletons. "What _do_ I have to do to be allowed to talk about your ass?" Clint glances down as his slow descent continues. "I mean, it is just _begging_ to be talked about..."

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara takes a slow, deep breath, then lets it out. She stretches some after her run/swim through the temple, then pulls the satellite communicator from her belt. "Well, it's past the level of free chocolates for flirting," she says with a confident smirk. She brings the comm to her lips and pushes down the button. "This is Dutchess," Lara says, using her operation code name. "Went to a garden party and a dice game broke out. Someone loaded the dice." More code. She let go of the button.
    After a few moments, the radio crackled to life. "Roger, Dutchess."
    Lara continues, "My girlfriend isn't going to be able to walk out on her own." More code. "Might need a rescue chopper."
    "Standby, Dutchess. Your game warden coming back with you?"
    "Roger," Lara says.
    "Acknowledged," the radio says, then silence.

Clint Barton has posed:
    Another roll of his eyes. "Who said anything about flirting? I just wanted to compliment your exercise regimen."
    Now that they have escaped the lizards, the skeletons, the swimming, the running, and the jumping, Cling finally allows himself to take a breath. More than a few. Definitely spending a few moments catching his breath as Lara calls in the air support.


    "Wait - am I the girlfriend?"