18

Once again, with the shield at point, Capt. Mendoza leads his companion down another tunnel. This one's deeper and darker. At any moment, Lake expects to get pounced on by a trap...or something with MUCH more teeth...

At last, they set foot into a chamber. The place is littered with piles of gunpowder...as well as piles of old-fashioned swords and shields.

Up in the vaults, a cougar sleeps. He seems to be ANOTHER import from Argentina he's forgotten to tell his errand boys about...

Lake takes up an old broadsword, and slides it out of its scabbard. He scoffs, at how ordinary it seems, in contrast to an HK416 carbine. He drops it. "Some arsenal. The black market's probably forgotten all about this tomb."

"Ah, don't be so greedy," Stoddard demands. "They'd hide all of the good stuff in all the more eye-catching relics."

There's a helmet among them, that's shaped like a wildcat's head. It reminds Stoddard of Wildcat, a JSA hero in DC Comics...

Stoddard smiles, as he notices that the helmet's visor is down. He takes up the helmet, reaches inside the visor, and pulls a vial out.

Stoddard smiles, and ogles the serum with an envious eye. He knows it; it's a supersoldier serum...not too different from the stuff that's already in him.

Meanwhile, taking Stoddard's advice, Lake finds a gauntlet. It's shaped like a caiman's foot. It's even webbed like one...via mail armor. The rest of the armor is scale...save the claws on each finger, which are dagger-like.

Lake takes a deep breath, turns the gauntlet opening-down, and shakes it. He's just in time to catch a vial, as it falls from the gauntlet.

Behind him, Stoddard looks here and there, with devious eyes. He smiles, engages a needle at the base of the vial, and jabs the needle into himself.

In the vaults, the cougar wakes. He yawns and stretches atop the buttress he's atop. He then looks down upon Stoddard, and narrows his feline eyes...

Timid, Lake inoculates himself with the other serum he's found. It causes him to bellow...like a caiman...

All around, the tomb reels and rocks. A quake's coming. Either that, or a chain reaction's been set in motion. Somehow, it seems to have to do with the two serums that've been taken...

Aloft, the cougar sits up, crouches, and leaps from the buttress. He becomes less tangible as he falls. He lands all around Stoddard, with his entire body, and merges himself with the enhanced supersoldier in gestation...

All around, the gunpowder kegs are made uneasy. They explode. Using the tunnel as a cannon bore, Lake is fired right from it, and is punted right over the chamber just outside...where Capt. Mendoza's shield had just discus-flown moments before.

Lake then has a Capt. Hook moment, when he looks down, and sees a caiman opening its jaws, to receive him, on the way down. The black caiman is still in the lake.

The caiman snatches the falling supersoldier test subject in his jaws, and dives. Beneath the surface, the three are merged; the serum, Lake, and the black caiman.

Farther out, the entrance to Sat Arun's tomb caves in. The easy way out is now no longer accessible...to a normal human.

Atop a cliff nearby, a sloth bear watches, as the tomb shakes to a standstill. Soon, all is calm. He can tell. He yawns, lumbers away, and finds a tree with spiky bark. He stands, leans up against the tree trunk via his back, and starts scratching. Damn, he loves jungle life. Too bad he doesn't have a man-cub to share it with...