176/Retirement!

Retirement!
Date of Scene:	27 April 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed.
Cast of Characters:	Indiana Jones, Lara Croft

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Indiana Jones has posed:
    "No. No, I said more spicy. Come on, Ahmad, I', no tourist," the man growled in French as he talked to a street vendor. The rain drizzled down, yet the air was warm. It created a sort of humid, sticky sensation that was less then pleasant, but far form unsusual in Southeast Asia. The vendor argued briefly with him in French, but not it was about the price of the street sandwich. Eventually, the Caucasion man handed over some coins and took his meal, ducking under an awning to eat his foot out of the rain.

On the edge of Lowtown, only a block or so away from where the RICH lived, Indiana Jones (Or Walton Cooke as he was going by at the time) had been living for about six months now. Before this he had been in India, and Russia before that. Greece. Qurac. Hell, even Wakanda. It was like he was a rolling stone, and was trying desperatly not to gather moss.

The man did not look a day over the age he did when he drank from the Grail in the desert. He was not dressed in his adventuring clothing, of course. Jeans, boots, a simple jacket over a button-up shirt. His hat was a simple ballcap, and he wore glasses. While he remained in excellent shape, it was hard to link this man with the name Indiana jones. (Unless of course, you'd tracked him across the world...)

He sank into a chair at a little folding table under the awning and offered a nod to the couple at the next table, before bringing his food to his mouth.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara had gotten both the name and the location from Barret... After they'd gotten out of that fight that had ended with the truck holding the priceless artifact had been sadly stolen by the armed force that had rushed the under-prepared archaeology campsite. She'd done her best, but her priority was to keep Barret alive. She'd had to make a choice, and she'd chosen to save Barret over saving the artifact.

Here and now, on this raining day in this sticky place, Lara Croft walk through the busy streets with a blakc leather jacket on, a dark grey hoodie beneath it with the hood pulled up over her head. She had a brown leather backpack strapped over her shoulders, dark grey cargo pants and black leather boots.

'Walton' would be able to see her approach he resident. He'd be able to see her looking down at a leather-bound journal of some kind, then knocking on his door and waiting for someone to come out, pacing and looking almost as though she was in a rush.

Indiana Jones has posed:
He glanced up from his sandwich, and his brow furrowed a bit as he watched the young woman at his door. He adjusted his glasses and sat back, briefly touching the holstered revolver under his shoulder, as if to make sure it was there. Smith & Wesson 1917, chambered for .45 ACP. It was still there, of course. He took another bite of his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully as he watched her. His gaze dipped over her curiously, before settling on her journal. He took another bite of his sandwich before he stood.

He handed the remains of the meal to a beggar on the corner, and then turned to idly haggle for some bootleg superhero footage at a stall a few doors down from his home. He glanced over as he did so, watching the woman, and pondering what to do.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara definitely did not have the air of someone who look threatening in her physical mannerisms. She looked more like a college-student who was lost, or just flat out at the wrong address. She also had no idea that he could see her and was observing her, because there were a lot of people around the area right now and she'd been traveling for awhile, it leads to her own situational awareness being a bit low. Plus, cities weren't Lara's strong suit anyway.

After a few minutes, she took her heavy backpack off and sat it down between her feet. She sat down on the stoop outside of Walton's resident and then lifted her half-gloved hands up to grab the hemd of her hood, tugging it further up on her head to keep her face covered in shadows and out of the rain... Then, the young woman just leaned up against the doorframe of his apartment, like she was about to fall asleep.

Whoever it was, it'd be clear to him that she had no intentions of leaving.

Indiana Jones has posed:
Well, that was odd. He ended up waving off the vendor after a few moments and stepped away from the stall. he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and watched Lara as she setup camp on his doorstep. He sighed. Eventually he made his way down the street, just as the drizzle began to turn into a downpour. His shadow fell over her.

"Something I can help you with, kid?," he asked as he peered down at her.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara didn't, at first, even realize that the voice was speaking to her. So it took, a pair of ticking seconds before she even moved. Her slumped-to-the-left head suddenly lifted up and she looked up at him, shedding light upon her chin and mouth. She peered out from the shdows of the hood up at the man in the ballcap and she then, suddenly, shot up to her feet, sliding herself up the door on her back and then stuttering stepping so-as to not lose her footing.

Lara's right hand went out to initiate a handshake, she had a pair of black leather half-gloves on leaving her fingers exposed to the elements. "Are you, Walton?" She asked, he'd note her voice was thick with a British accent and quite soft on the ears. "My name is Lara, Lara Croft...I was sent by Doctor Barret Colclasure of the American Museum of Natural History, in Manhattan."

Indiana Jones has posed:
"Not like Richard Croft, right?"

He glanced down at her hand, and after a moment he reached out to take it. His own hand was rough. "Yeah, I'm Walton. Walton Cooke." He frowned a bit and released her hand, before reaching up to adjust his baseball cap. (It held the faded logo for the Gotham Knights). The rain hammered down behind him, and the street was swiftly emptying. "Well, might as well slip inside for some coffee. Hospitality and all that. You can tell me what you want," he offered gruffly.

He fished his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door, before slipping past her and inside. The house was two stories, and thin, like a brownstone back Stateside, really. The first floor was a living room, bathroom and small kitchen. Stairs wound upwards to the second floor. The place was fairly cluttered. Books stacked everywhere, and a lot of knicknacks from around the world. The furniture was worn and second-hand. He plucked his hat off and set it down on the small kitchen table as he passed into the kitchen. Lacking a coffee machine, he fished out a bag of grounds and everything, and started a pot boiling, clearly making them the old-school way.
5r"Settle in. Rain'll last all night. Lowtown always floods too, due to faulty irrigation and planning Hightown stuck everyone down here with."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara followed him into the home and she let her eyes roam around its interior then. "Yes." She said. "Richard was my father..." She didn't elaborate any further on that, though 'was' was a clear sign he wasn't around anymore.

Once indoors, her right hand went up to her hood and she pulled down off of her head revealing the rest of her face. She indeed was a young woman, though more clearly just beyond college-age now. She followed him into the kitchen, setting her backpack down on the floor by the doorframe very gently.

"I'm not precisely sure where to begin with this." Social interaction wasn't Lara's strong suit, infact it was what she got most nervous about in life... even more nervous than leaping off a cliffside.

"Three days ago, I was in Austria at an archaeological recovery site at Toplitz Lake. You probably have heard of it." Her head shook lightly. "We uncovered something there, something that I'm told may have some measure of value to you."

Indiana Jones has posed:
"Interesting lake. Fish can't survive below 18 meters due to the water lacking oxygen down there. Really unique," the man offered idly as he reached into his cabinet and pulled out a small, rectangular cake. It was yellowish, with almonds and raisins and other things in it. He pulld out a knife and two little plates. "Lapis Legit," he explained, as if to fill the silence with sound. "Local cake. they make them with all sorts of things inside. there are even chcoolate ones. Excellent snacks, and good with coffee. Sit down somewhere, kid."

He stepped over in the tiny kitchen to check on the coffee, not glancing over at her.

"So, what did you find, and why would it interest me? I'm just a writer. A failing one at that. Can't even finish one damn book."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara did sit, at the kitchen table and she went to pull her wet half-gloves off of her hands then smoothed them out ontop of the table nervously... she was tired, it made her more nervous and shakey, but she was trying to contain it.

"It is an interesting place, yes. It served as the dumping ground for Nazis that were fleeing the area a long time ago... as, you probably know." She drew in a deep breath and then reached for the plate with the cake on it, it looked delicious. "Thank you." Lara said softly, reaching for a fork to cut the cake with.

"Barret recovered something he hadn't expected. I arrived just in time to see it... moments before it was stolen by armed men." She glance down at the cake.

"It was a golden lid... to a container that wasn't present. The kapporet had two cherubim adorning the top, reaching out for one another." She was miming the shape and style of the lid with her hands as she spoke.

Lara's brown eyes went up to Walton's face. "Does this set off any reasons in you mind as to why I'd seek you out in regards to it?" She asked.

Indiana Jones has posed:
He was pouring coffee when she explained what the object looked like, and he ended up splling a bit on his pants. "Shit," he grunted as he grabbed a napkin and wiped his leg. Once he calmed himself a hint he grabbed the cups and set them on the table, along with a small thing of cream, and some sugar. He sat down across from her and shook his head before taking his glasses off.

Without the glasses he looked a lot more like the man she remembered from the old, black and white photographs. "Impossible. That item was taken away in 1936. No way it was at the bottom of some lake."

Lara Croft has posed:
Under the light over the table, Lara did recognize the man now, she'd looked images of him up online on her flight here. It amazed her to see that he hadn't aged more than a month, by the look of it... And she suddenly realized that there was a picture of her father WITH him, back at her home in London in father's Study... she'd seen it a thousand times but always brushed it off.

Lara's head shook as she grounded her busy mind. "They searched the rest of the are surrounding where they discovered the lid." She told him. "The rest of the container it suppsedly belonged to... was indeed not present."

Lara leaned back in her chair then and she looked over the table at him. "You're him..." She said then, eyeing his face. "Henry Jones Junior... You turned the Ark of the Testimony in to a goverment agency in Washington D.C. eighty nine years ago."

Lara then leaned forward in her chair. "I need to know who you met with that day. The names of the men you gave the Ark too."

Indiana Jones has posed:
"The S.S.R. They became SHIELD later on," he offered softly. The man was trying to take it all in as he brought his coffee to his lips after adding a bit of cream. "So, you found the lid...but not the box? And you're sure it wasn't a fake or anything?" His mind was working fast, trying to figure out what might be going on.

Eventually he sat back in his seat and sighed, nodding. "Call me Indiana, or Professor Jones, please. And yeah...that's who I am." He didn't offer explanation on his age, instead rubbing at his eyes. "You...said people showed up with weapons?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's head gently nodded to his questions and she reached into her jacket pocket and produced a leather wallet-shaped booklet that she laid on the table, pushed a few inches toward him and then opened. It was a SHIELD badge, and beneath it was her I.D. card showing off her name and that she was a 'Acquisitions Specialist' for the W.A.N.D. division of the agency.

"I'm trying to find out if it was a fake or not." She told him. "And to be anetirely frank with you, sir... Up until a handful of days ago, I thought that all of this was nothing more than the fairytales of a movie studio based on the harrowing legends that have followed your name throughout your storied life."

She showed him a soft and understanding smile. "If I hadn't, in recent years, gone though some... events that have opened my eyes up more to the wonders of this world... well then, I wouldn't be here before you today at all."

She gently nodded her head. "They were believed to be armed tomb raiders, essentially. Looking to plunder what had been lawfully retrieved from the bottom of that mysterious lake. And I... Well..."

Lara exhaled softly. "I get to find out whats real now, and whats not."

Indiana Jones has posed:
"My dad is sir. Not me," he offered idly. Notable, he said 'is', not 'was'...but that is a whole other bag of cats.

His gaze dipped to the badge, and his brow furrowed a hint. "Hm. Well, if SHIELD is having you look into this, that means it -could- be real. THAT means they lost the crate. Doesn't it?" Indiana Jones leans back and sighs softly, brushing his fingers over his lightly stubbled chin. "Trust me, kid...there are a lot of crazy things out there. And I'm not even talking about the guy in the red cape stopping falling meteors...or terrorists who can lift oil tankers with their minds. Magic. Cults. Weird...shit."

He brushes his fingers back through his hair and birngs his coffee to his lips again.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara drew her ID back and put it back into her jacket pocket. She listened to him say this, even noted the line about his father not being dead. Hers was, but his wasn't? What a world...

Lara gently shook her head. "I've only been with SHIELD for a short while now and if they did take the Ark from you, so long ago... I believe it is possible that it was infact, lost amongst their inventories. But, you just did me a great favor in letting me know precisely where I need to look."

Lara's right hand came up to her face, she pressed it to the side of her forehead and then stroked the damn brown hair back out of her eyes that was hanging over them. The majority of her hair was taied back behind her head, but her bangs were loose and still wet from the weather outside.

"I'll head back to New York then." She told him. "I'll find out where the Ark was taken, after it left your hands... And... I'll go figure out why it has potentially lost the mercy seal that kept its contents safely away."

Lara's eyes went back up to his after stating her plan outloud. "Thank you... Indiana." She used his name as he'd asked her to. Though it felt weird having it on her lips like that. IT asn't but 6 months ago that her friend Jonah had made her watch the man's movies, telling her that she was 'JUST LIKE HIM!' Now he was right here... Jonah would be beside himself.

Indiana Jones has posed:
"Good idea. Look inward. An organization that big is bound to have places where things can slip between the cracks."

It was clear that the man had every intention of settling back into his life hwere once she was gone, as if nothing happened. He was going to get right back to working on his book, which he had thrown away and restarted a dozen times in the last decade. Nothing was going to change for him, even if everything had changed for her.

Then, of course, a grenade is lobbed through the window. It hits the back of the couch and bounces, and Indiana acts on pure instinct. He falls back in his chair while kicking the table out so it falls on its side, between himself, Lara and the grenade...making a bit of a barrier.

BOOM!

Rubble flies everywhere in the cramped second floor, and the second story begins to cave in in places, bringing stuff falling as well. Indy pulls out his revolver as he crouches down, clicking the safety off. "Great."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was about to stand up and leave after having consumed about half of the cake slive that he'd given her. But when the grenade hit, she recognized it almost as quickly as he had and they both hit the ground and used the table for cover. Lara's hands had gone to cup her ears to block out the defeaning BOOM that rattled the house's foundation.

Her eyes opened in time to see Indy was clutching a revolver. Breathe, Breathe...

Lara's right hand went inside her jacket and she pulled out her own issued semi-automatic handgun. She-too unclicked the safety and went to get to her feet, crouching at his kitchen cabinets.

"I've been followed." She told him, which was a no-brainer. "I'm sorry!" She tried add, seeing his home was destroyed now. Her fingers clutched at her gun, waiting for a target to fire at should anyone be about to rush inside.

Indiana Jones has posed:
A man in tactical gear, carrying an automatic rifle, burst through the broken door, and automatic fire filled the room. Indy crouched low beside her, counting softly in his head. He leaned to the side and fired off a shot, catching the man in the calf. He cried out and slumped, being left for Lara to finish.

"Time for apologies later, kid," he yelled, before he rolled out from behind the table and fired off two shots into the street behind the injured man. "Looks like an ATV is outside. Whoever this is...they aren't tomb raiders. There's an AK-104 under the couch. Hold 'em off for a minute. If we're taking off there's something I need..."

And just like that Indiana Jones sprinted up the stairs to the shifting, unstable second floor.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara knew that she lived and worked in a world that was kill or be killed... So when Indy downed that first man with his sidearm, she fired one off and finished him off with a clean shot right into the bridge of his nose.... She didn't like killing, she thought about everyone she'd ever done it too... but whatever kept her breathing, kept her moving forward.

AT the intrucutions about the gun, Lara nodded her head and scrmabled in said direction as Indy ascended the staircase inside the ruined domicile.

Snatching the heavy weapon up, Lara spent a moment studying it and then sorted herself out with its operatiional requiements...

Snaps and clicks later and Lara Croft was standing up at the window facing the ATV and she was unleashing a hellstorm of bullets out the front of the window, rattling the entire neighborhood with resonating gunfire noises!

Indiana Jones has posed:
The ATV took the brunt of the machine gun fire, and the weapon numbed Larag's arm and shoulder with the force of its release. The men inside leapt for cover, and a few went down under her fire.

Meanwhile, Indy moved through his bedroom, muttering to himself as he searched for something. He glanced up from flipping his mattress just in time to see a man slip in through his bedroom window. Indy lifted his revolver in time for it to be kicked from his hand, and then he took a right-hook to the jaw. He fell backwards, and the two began exchanging heavy blows, kicks and bites. Finally, our hero managed to draw the attacker's knife from his boot holster, and he ran him through with it.

Leftr panting, he managed to find one of the things he was looking for (An old, battered and leatherbound book of some kind. Longer and wider then most books.) He then found the second thing.

Indy flung himself over the bannister and landed on the couch with a grunt as he fired off a shot from his reclaimed revolver at a man coming through the front door, sending him toppling. "I got it! Motorcycle's out back! Let's go!" he then tucked on the second item he was so desperatly searching for upstairs.

A high-crowned, wide-brimmed sable fedora.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara fired the gun until its ammunition was spent and it left her panting and out of breath. She threw it down on the ground and then lifted up the sofa until it was in fron tof the windows and she was crouching down against it with her back/shoulde pressed up to it.

When Indy came back down the stairs he'd find her like that, with her handgun clutched in her right hand. She stared at him as he put the hat on and sure enough... Lara's eyes blinked once and then she registered what he said.

A second later and the young woman was on her booted feet and charging after him to where he'd said the motorcycle was. She snatche dher backpack up off the floor on the way and tossed it oer her right shoulder. As they stepped out of the house she lifted her gun up and fired off a shot at two men with guns, catching one of them in the neck and the other recoiled back behind cover! Lara fired two more times at him to make sure he stayed back behind that cover too!

Indiana Jones has posed:
Out back was a battered old Harley which looked like it was older then Lara, and likely held together with duct tape and happy thoughts. Either way he climbed on and waited for her to join him before he kicked it on. It started with a rumble, just as two armed men burst into the alley in front of them. He hunkered down and the bike shot forward.
    He swung a fist to high-speed catch one of the two men under the chin, leaving the other for Lara as they built up speed while passing them. The rain had dimmed to a drizzle again, but it made the drive treacherous.

A car pulled onto the road behind them, flanked by a motorcycle. Armed men and women followed. "Airport or harbor?," he yelled into the wind to her. Now and again he reached up to make sure his hat didn't fly off as he dodged traffic while the attackers began to catch-up. A shot rung over their shoulder.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara continued to cover them from behind as Indiana fired the motorcycle up. She was on the back of it almost immediately, latching on like a lemur monkey and she was ready go to, one hand around his abdomen and the other still holding her gun!

She stood up as he made for the mouth of the alley and she fired at the other man, hitting him brutally right square in the forhead with a shot that ended his life instantly, it was clear that she was a good damn shot considering she was riding on a moving motorcycle that was made about as far back as Indy himself was made.

Once on the main road, Lara shouted back at him. "Airport!" She said. "I have a contact there! He can get us out on a vehicle transport plane!"

Lara turned backward on the bike, aimed at the car following them and she fired two more times at the driver's side of the front windshield, her eyes squinting in the wind and the rain.

Indiana Jones has posed:
The pursuing car swerved for a moment, before the driver's side door swung open, and the driver was shoved out. A moment later and the vehicle was gaining speed again. Civilians flung themselves out of the way of the insane, violent chase. "Who are these guys?," Indy yelled as he hunkered down, focusing on steering. "Are they Nazis? it was always damn Nazis! Or HYDRA! Usually HYDRA -and- Nazis! Sometimes the Serpent Society! It's Nazis, isn't it? DAMN. I HATE NAZIS."

One of the motorcycles cut around another car and was suddenly flanking them. The driver reached out for them, and Indy kicked at the other man's spokes with his boot, sending the bike into a high-speed flip.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was having a hell of a time landing her shots in this kind of weather and Indy's wild driving. But she knew that his driving was completely necessary so she just replaced the magazine in her gun and held on for her life.

"I don't know!" She called back at him. "HYDRA, maybe... But they could be anyone!" Two more shots were fire when the road was clear of innocents and lara clipped their front tire! She grinned quite proud of herself, seeing some of the tread ripped off of the wheel and sent flying out behind the vehicle.

"Drive faster! I think we can outrun them now!" She shouted forward toward his right ear. She was drenched wet now, even in drizzle... driving on a motorcycle at this speed basically meant you hit every drop of rain like it was driving underneath the ocean.

Indiana Jones has posed:
Thankfully they were not very far from the landing strip that counted as the airport for Lowtown. Hightown had something much, much nicer. The motorcycle burst through the gate of the chainlink fence and they roared across the open area...which gave them absolutely NO cover. He roared towards the only vehicle transport plane he could see, assuming it was the one she mentioned.

"Grenade! Saddlebag!," he yelled to her. Now that they were away from crowded streets or civilians, he was okay with her using it on the pursuing (Though now limping along) ATV fillwed with baddies. They leaned out windows and opened fire on them, bullets hitting the asphalt around them.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's head came up from behind Indy's form after they crashed through the fence and she spared a look back over her shoulder, her wet ponytail was flapping in the winds behind her. She watched the ATV roll right over the broken fence and she grimaced at the sight of it.

It was Indiana's shouted words that brought her attention forward again and she leaned down to her left and fished open the saddlebag, then felt around inside it until the unmistakable presence of a frag grenade could be felt.... she'd thrown several of these in the past, thankfully.

With it yanked out of the bag, Lara primed it and she held ON to it to 'cook' the grenade... A few moments later she lobbed it back behind them at the ground between their motorbike and the ATV, hoping it would be rolled right over by their pursuers!

The back of the vehicle cargo plane was open... a large gangplank that Indy could drive right up inside of.

Indiana Jones has posed:
The Tomb Raider's hopes were met.

The grnade rolled right under the ATV, unseen by the people inside. The explosion was loud enough to make teeth vibrate, and a flaming wheel shot a few inches over Lara and Indy's heads, the wind from it knocking Indiana's hat from him. The bike rode into the open plane and he skidded to a stop. The man climbed off of the bike and drew his revolver, walking to the gangplank and aiming out along the runaway. There was nobody left to fire at. Indiana sprinted down the gangplank and crouched to pick up his battered hat and frowned at it, before turning to make his way back up the ramp.

"Well, Madripoor is a bust. Looks like I'm out of retirement." While there was an annoyed growl in his voice, his heart was racing. He felt alive again.

Lara Croft has posed:
The pilot of the planet came barreling down the ladder into the main hold of the cargo hauler. "What on earth was that?!" He shouted in a thick French accent, looking to the two of them. "Lara!" He shouted at her. "Look at you! You look like a drowneded pussy cat!" Then his eyes went to Indy, and he looked the man up and down. "Who is this??"

"Jacque!" Lara shouted as she climbed off the bike and looked to Indy to see him fussing with his old hat. "Start the plane!" She shouted at him, which might send some shivers of familiarity through Indy's bones.

"We have to get out of here, I believe that a sect of HYDRA agents is hot on our tracks." Pun was entirely intended after that successful grenade toss by the British woman.

The pilot looked between them, his black mustache twitched and then he nodded and started back up the ladder for the plane's cockpit on the level above.

Lara, meanwhile, turned to face Indy and she walked toward him... her gun going back inside her leather jacket. "Do you want to come with me?" She asked him then, her right hand stroke strands of wet brown hair out of her rain slicked face. "Go and find that Ark that you lost, a life time ago?" She cracked a small grin then, still catching her breath.

Indiana Jones has posed:
That did ring familiar to the man, and he shivered. "Do I want to go? Hrm..." He paused in mid-sentence as he seemed to remember something, and he hurried over to his motorcycle. He crouched and reached into one of the saddlebags, removing that book. Now she can easily tell it is a photo album. He frowns severaly when he sees a bullet hole in the cover, going all the way through to the back cover. Still, he seems to relax when he sees it is still there. He tucks it away again and stood.

"Well, my house is flaming rubble, and I am probably wanted for numerous traffic violations and for general chaos here now..." He shrugs and puts his hat back on. "Hell with it. Never should have given the Ark to the government the first time, so let's go find it. It belongs in a museum."