Spare the Spar
Disclaimer: I do not own Tomb Raider or any of the characters there within.
Kold stood beside the black limousine, staring intently out at the entrance of the building from across the way, his hands folded before him. The solidly built, bear of a man seemed to simply stare into nothingness, but he was quite aware of his surroundings. The sound of the cars rushing behind him, one had a faulty muffler, a sheet of newspaper fluttered helplessly at the mercy of the wind across the sidewalk, and one stooping woman among the throng of moving bodies had dropped an item from her purse. Kold assessed all the information, discarding useless tidbits for potential threats; Jacqueline Natla would emerge from the building any moment and it was his duty to see that she made it home safely.
The level of alarm abysmal at best, Kold's mind began to wander.
He remembered the first time he had ever set eyes on Ms. Jacqueline Natla.
A cry of cat calls had risen to a crescendo in the prison block, drowning the sound of smartly clicking heels on the concrete floor. A woman walked among the inmates.
"Hey baby, stay awhile, we'll be gentle with you."
"Ever had some with a real man?"
"Let's see them knockers, kitten."
Kold was disinterested, but curious nonetheless. Women were all the same: petty, easily-flustered, their heads filled with hot air. But they did have a pretty way of dying. He looked up from his knife, a new, sleek little friend he had snagged from his last hapless victim in the cell block, to see a tall woman flanked by two guards that had their nightsticks at the ready. Kold stopped sharpening his knife.
Impossibly tall, the lithe woman dwarfed the prison guards as long, slender legs carried her with slow grace toward Kold. Long, straight, platinum blonde hair cascaded down over her slender shoulders to hide over her back. The image of an exotic giraffe came to mind, for how those elongated, lightly swaying, willowy limbs were, but the closer the woman approached, the more she became an attractive fox—the men were right to cat call to her. Smart attire adorned her figure, screaming the latest fashion for a prized CEO in New York; a professional navy blue jacket was fitted stylishly over a sky-blue collared and cuffed shirt, all nuzzled perfectly over her torso and a white scarf was tied elegantly around her slender neck. A matching pair of Capri pants rose slightly over her ankles to reveal black laced high heels, not that she needed the added height. The clothes were tailored.
If Kold had expected her to flesh out more, he was sorely mistaken—she remained as thin as a toothpick as she drew closer. He started picking out details. She had manicured fingernails like tiger claws, her face was sharp, her long nose pointed, her cheekbones high; and her eyes were a frigid, piercing blue.
When one overanxious inmate lunged through the bars at her, she did not flinch, even barely acknowledged the assault, when a guard struck the prisoner fiercely with his club and the man fell back with a cry. The guards were instantly alert, anxious, while the woman pressed on as serene as ever.
Whoever this woman was, she had wealth, intelligence, and power. Kold fingered his knife.
She would make a beautiful trophy.
"Mr. Kin Kade, I presume?"
Finally the woman had reached Kold and stood patiently on the other side of the double-barred cell for him to acknowledge her presence. Carefully, in the same slow manner the woman had upon entering, Kold stood from his cot. With measured movements, he raised both arms to grip the bars above his head. The position made him look like a violently powerful, wild bear rearing to deal a death blow to a weaker opponent. But still the woman appeared unafraid of the prison, the inmates, nor of him.
He didn't grant her a decent reply. Kold answered to no one.
She smiled placidly at his silence, her gaze flickered over him, assessing, before her chilling blue eyes met his again. Whatever she had determined about him, she approved.
"My name is Jacqueline Natla, owner and CEO of Natla technologies. I have an offer for you." She said softly.
Kold flexed his sinewy muscles against the bars (did she smile?) and shrugged indifferently.
"You're gunna get me out? What's in it for you?" Kold growled lowly. One pencil-thin eyebrow arched at having her motives deduced so easily. The woman's smile darkened into something a little more dangerous.
"I'm in need of a bodyguard. It would seem there are many interested in stealing my unpatented innovations and it is not beyond my…business rivals to come to bodily harm to further their own expansion." She had a very slow way of moving, an unintentional sensuousness seemed to radiate from her every gesture and furtive glance. Kold found himself relaxing against the bars as he again shrugged his indifference. He turned his head to watch her with his good eye.
"What's to say the bodyguard won't turn on the master once freed?"
A corner of her lips twitched and darkened with a malicious grin.
"I don't think that would be in your best interest." Her brilliant blue eyes flashed and Kold suddenly found that he could not look away. He could not explain it, but his flesh was searing hot as his vision blurred and solidified, he had gone numb, his mind shutting out all else but the blue surrounding her dark pupils. Somehow he knew she was behind whatever was happening. A falling sensation seized him as he tumbled through the azure skies. There. There in the quiet was chaos and death. Suddenly he saw. This woman…she knew death. She had conspired with death, created it, survived it. They were lovers. She had taken life before and she…she understood him.
Those cold blue eyes closed for an instant and the repercussion whiplashed Kold like a severed bungee cord. The ethereal connection they shared slammed shut with the force of a concrete door, but Kold was left with an irrefutable enlightenment.
Ms. Jacqueline Natla was well acquainted with death and some part of her enjoyed its company. In her unspoken way, she had communicated her appreciation for his knowledge of the art. She understood Kold's lust after it and she valued him for it.
Kold was still mentally shaking off the aftereffects of the bizarre exchange when he heard her speak aloud once more. He could still feel the freezing burn of her eyes on him.
"How much for his parole?"
"What? His pa…Miss, I'd advise against it, the man's a psychopath—" the guard stuttered, disbelieving how foolhardy this woman really was.
"How much?" she snapped.
"Six-hundred thousand."
"Done."
And with that, Ms. Jacqueline Natla turned on her heel and left the prison block to distinctly quieter concrete halls, leaving the guards to hurry after a regal queen on a quest. Despite heated arguments of the ward psychiatric and security guards alike, Kold was released into her custody the next day. Natla, that was her name, wasted no time putting him in service, outfitted him with weapons, and arranged a penthouse suite for him to move into that first day of freedom. From prison to living the rich life in the span of hours, Kold was feeling agreeable. It was a partnership made in heaven.
And still, Kold could never bring himself to kill her—there was something deep seated within him that fiercely admired the woman. The longer he spent time with her, he grew to revere her. He realized her awesome potential and fathomless intelligence in everything she did. Every move within and without her company was precisely calculated steps in advance—it was almost like she was playing some grand tiered chess game, moving pieces and advancing towards victory. She was like him in many ways, elbowing stomachs, stepping on toes, destroying lives to get what she wanted, though really she was already on top of the heap. A queen on the board of the game she played. She was intelligent, was always a step ahead of her enemies, a neurotic perfectionist and sometimes outright catty. And slowly but surely, the desire to see her agony from a clean stab to the abdomen dissolved to a steadfast resolve to protect her. A woman that could serve her own purpose so similar to Kold's own plan of action, deserved to wreck havoc on the world. And she had many enemies. He was never bored.
Suddenly a figure towered over the throng of moving bodies, platinum hair fluttering in the breeze, those familiar long legs closing the distance between them with effortless strides. Kold snapped to immediate alert, scanning for looming threats. He knew she didn't like to be coddled, so he did not walk to meet her halfway, she would have reached him had he attempted to anyway.
"No need to be so uptight." Natla said flippantly when she reached him, a devious glint in her eyes.
"We're in L.A." he replied gruffly. "How was the meeting?"
She smiled and tilted her head irresistibly to one side with the murmur of a single word.
"Successful."
Kold knew she had worked her intimidating charm on her soon to be business partners. Natla was very good at closing deals. Queen takes pawn.
The chauffer had spotted her approach as well and had already opened the door for her. She gracefully ducked in. Kold surveyed the area once more before moving to follow. He feinted at the chauffer, who flinched in response. Kold never got bored of that either. The door closed behind him and he maneuvered to his own side of the limousine. The seat was well worn to his weight and it creaked to accept him. Jacqueline was already seated comfortably with her legs crossed and pouring champagne enough for two.
"Back to the office, Jenkins." She said without looking up from the glasses. The window between the cab and interior rolled silently shut and Jenkins pulled off from the curb. The Natla Technologies building in Los Angeles was new, barely finished on time for Natla's demands, and much smaller than the office in New York. Jacqueline had often discussed her expansion ideas with Kold and actually put stock in what he had to say; though Kold was not much of a business man, he had majored in economics in school before he found a more exciting life among sharp objects and spilled blood, he knew how to turn a profit.
Jacqueline handed him one of the glasses and sipped at her own. Kold threw back the drink like it was a shot of water and held out one hand. The woman across from him smiled and shook her head lightly as she handed him the bottle of champagne. Kold poured himself another glass that he drank more slowly. He noticed her staring idly out the window, not really seeing anything, brooding. Kold knew this demeanor, she was visiting some other time, or else plotting the next move on that chessboard—another quiet understanding they had of each other. Kold swished the liquid in his glass and took a gulp.
"They give you trouble?" he said into the silence. Jacqueline's piercing blue eyes cut into him; the cold predator was there before her eyes warmed slightly.
"Hardly. They did seem rather determined to withhold their contract without a copy of the patent, but I assured them their investment was in good hands."
"Remind me what transaction we made this time?"
She smiled, her eyes warming more, seeing through the ruse. Natla was a technological genius and Kold just didn't have the mind to comprehend all the techno mumbo-jumbo that spilled from her mouth. They both knew it.
"Ah, you're trying to distract me again." Kold poured himself another glass of champagne and shrugged. "I can't have a few moments to brood about my path to success?" She smiled again at his silence. "You know, you really are just a big teddy bear, if one could overlook your murderous instinct." She raised the glass to her lips, her smile devious and a pencil-thin eyebrow arched.
"A teddy-bear with a ticking time bomb in its stuffing." He growled and exhaled a hoarse laugh.
"Absolutely charming. You should join me at my meetings; your humor would stun them speechless." She chuckled. "I'm certain your very presence would sway any naysayers."
A knife appeared in Kold's hand and the ice blue eyes regarding him flashed with fire.
"I'd be happy to help."
"You know how much I appreciate your aid in all my business endeavors."
She raised her glass to him in a toast, but before she could drink to his health, the limousine slammed to a stop. Jacqueline was pitched forward unceremoniously, and though she immediately caught herself, she had not been fast enough to catch the tumbling glass of champagne. It shattered, spilling contents and all, on the antique Persian rug. The door in Jenkins cab was opened and the chauffer pulled screaming out.
"Kin." Jacqueline snapped, made aware of the imminent danger, but Kold was two steps ahead and already shoving out the door. A mob of gang members hovered just outside and gunfire thundered to a chorus of screams. Kold lunged and his knife settled deep into the stomach of one offender, before ripping out a ribbon of crimson to sheathe in the neck of the next. Coldly, methodically, the bodyguard killed every attacker, for not one of the gang members was willing to back down. They swarmed him like a pack of wolves and died like the dogs they were.
The public had scattered to their shelters and safe havens by this time as more and more bodies littered the crimson stained ground. Kold was finally down to the last punk who aimed a pair of Uzis at the bodyguard. The man had already decided to make this last one's death for his personal enjoyment. He ignored the bullets that plunged into his flesh from the smoking Uzis as he charged and snatched the dumbfounded punk ass and threw the kid to the ground. The guns flew and Kold slammed a knee into the kid's gut, leveling the knife at his throat.
"Wait."
The sheer power and authority of the voice stopped Kold from doing what he enjoyed most. No one else could have stolen that moment from him, but her.
Natla had stepped out of the limousine, and that slow, predatory stalk hovered around her as it had that day in the prison block. She carelessly stepped over broken and bleeding bodies, unfazed, and made her way towards Kold, her eyes never leaving the last member of the mob beneath him.
The kid was panting hard, his empty hands held up in defeat as still the knife pressed threateningly against his throat.
"Hey c'mon, take it easy dude; it was just a prank, a joke. Back off man, take it easy." The kid exhaled in a rush. He eyed Natla (she obviously had some control over the bulldog) and tried to look pathetically innocent, pandering to that weak, nurturing element women so often had, but Jacqueline was no simple woman and certainly no fool. "Hey Lady, tell this guy to back off, we didn't mean nothin'. He's crazy, tell 'im to lay off, I didn't wanna get mixed up in this. C'mon Lady, giva guya break."
"Quiet." She said.
"C'mon Lady, have a hea—" He choked to a halt when Kold's knife cut into his skin.
"She told you to shut up." Kold snarled venomously.
"Kold." Jacqueline reprimanded him gently, a thanks for his support but admonishment for harming her new-found interest. She moved close enough now that she could have ground her heel into the punk's eye if she wanted to—and for staining her Persian carpet she had every reason to. The gang member's eyes swiveled over her nervously, wondering if she had come to his aid or just to witness his death front row."What's your name?" she said calmly.
The punk seemed to weigh his options, considering both Kold and Natla respectively.
"I'm The Kid." He said after a moment.
Kold and Natla exchanged glances.
"What's your real name, punk?" Kold growled, speaking for his employer. The knife dug deeper into the wound.
"What's it to ya?" The Kid sputtered, unwilling to give up his identity so easily. "You killed my blood brothers you bastard."
Kold was about to slit the little bastard's throat when his employer stopped him once more.
"Blood brothers? You're a member of the underground?" the woman spoke above him.
"Look Lady," The Kid said rudely, "we was just gunna jack the limo, but then ya sick this crazy psycho on us. Bastard killed my brothers. Whatcha s'pect from me?"
Natla might have paced to dramatize the effect, but there was no time. Sirens were calling in the distance.
"You killed my chauffer, tried to steal my vehicle, and ruined an antique carpet; why should I let you live? What could you possibly propose that I spare you?"
The Kid realized he was being offered the opportunity to barter his life, and with his kin dead all around him, his options were limited. Either be useful or be killed.
"I got connections. I got connections. You want me ta put in a good word with the underground, you got it."
Natla hummed a muted agreement and seemed to think hard on the matter, that familiar dark smile twisting a corner of her lips once more. Kold looked up at her. She was scheming again.
"I have been looking for a…contact on the coast." She eyed Kold and they shared an unspoken agreement. She had just enlisted a contact in the West criminal underground. The woman covered every possible base in that chess game of hers; Kold had to stifle a smile.
"Yeah, yeah, you got it. Tell this guy to let up, he's gunna kill me."
Natla smiled just as the wail of police sirens filled the air, ever approaching the grisly scene of death and destruction.
"Well then, 'The Kid'," she motioned that Kold take the gang member to the confines of her nearly-jacked limo and Kold complied, forcibly wrenching the gang member up off the ground and thrusting him into the vehicle to loud protests. Natla followed. "I have an offer for you."
Author's Note: I really hadn't intended to write so much of this story from Kin Kade's point of view, it just sort of happened that way. And initially, I wanted to jump right into the action where The Kid was rallying his crew to jack Natla's limo and everything be told from his point of view. Go figure. Despite the story coming out leagues away from my original outline, I'm pretty happy with it. I just hope I got the characters across in a sensible, if not foreboding light. I really liked TRA's Natla, TR1 used to scare the crap out of me! (I was young!) It was always dark and the graphics were scary, it's amazing I got anywhere in that game--but I still love it all to pieces!
After reading all the profiles on the TRA game, I just had to write their stories. I really wanted to write The Kid, but Kin Kade was interesting too; (does Natla know how to pick 'em or what?) I had a hard time deciding, so I sort of meshed them together. I might even go back and add a seperate chapter just for The Kid, maybe? Though I'm itching to write a Natla centered fic adjacent Lara. It should prove interesting.
I know I changed a few things, the color of Natla's scarf for one. I dunno, I think white matches her. And then Natla calls Kin Kade "Kin" and "Kold" on seperate occasions; well there's a public Kold and private Kin. Those two have a good partnership going on (since Kold stopped devising her murder anyway...)
Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed my little Tomb Raider fic, there are more to come!
Please leave a review!
Blackfire 18