P

rologue

Calcutta

A rugged, southern man wearing a plaid button up shirt and tattered blue jeans walked into the Imperial Hotel, holding a crumpled memo. He walked to the reception desk. "Uuuh, Laura Cruz?" He asked in a thick southern accent. The man at the reception gave him an annoyed smile and took the memo from him. "Ah, miss Lara Croft. She went out several hours ago in our rent-a-jeep, so I don't know when she will be back. Can I take a message mister…?" He trailed off.

"Just call me Larson…Well shit I came all this way for nuthin and Miss…" He trailed off as the sound of a vehicle came closer. Larson walked over to the window and saw a speeding jeep quickly advancing to the hotel, leaving behind it a giant cloud of dust. "Ah, here she comes now." The man said, smiling nervously. It skidded to a stop, looking like a complete and total wreck. There were jungle leaves and branches poking out at places, the windshield was cracked, and there wasn't one area that didn't have at least three dents. He saw her face, which was beautifully shaped with thin-framed round red tinted sunglasses hiding her eyes. Her hair was brunette, several locks of it gently framing the side of her face. Over her shoulder was a long braid. He saw her face contort into a mix of struggle and anger, and finally she gave the door a swift kick. It fell off the jeep completely, landing on the ground with a dull thud. She stepped out, stretching. Larson looked her body up and down. She was very thin, but athletically built, with a very curvaceous body. She was wearing a tight blue sleeveless top and tight brown short shorts that were rolled up to her thigh. On her hips was a large belt that attached to a set of holsters, each strapping on at her thigh. Inside them was a pair of silver Browning HP handgun pistols. She finished her stretch and walked to the hotel, stepping inside. "Hey Jackson." She said, her voice was thick with a posh, high class British accent. "You should really tell the tribesman up on Wakalilah Mountain to be a little friendlier. They got really rough when I asked them for this." She took off her brown backpack and reached inside, pulling out a gold Idol. It was about six inches tall and was a short representation of Buddha. He laughed. "I'll work on that Lara." He said half sarcastically half jokingly. She nodded and walked over to one of the round lounge tables and sat down on one of the red oriental chairs.

"What's a man gotta do to get that kind of attention from ya?" Came his southern male accent from behind. A magazine was thrown down on the table she was sitting in front of with her on the cover, her pistols drawn and raised and behind her the dead body of Sasquatch in the forest of North America. Lara smiled, her favorite sunglasses hiding her eyes. "It's hard to say exactly, but you seem to be doing fine." He laughed.

"Well great, though truth is it aint me that wants you."

"No?"

"Noooo, Miss Jacqueline Natla does, head of Natla Technologies, you know, "great of all things bright and beautiful." He laughed and opened a laptop in front of Lara. A woman came up wearing a black trenchcoat. She had striking pale blue eyes and short, shiny blonde hair. Her lips were red, full, and plump. "Seal it Larson…"

"Larson huh…?" Lara thought.

"Ma'am." He said obediently. Money started falling from the top of the screen. Natla smiled and held her hands out. "Feast your eyes on this Lara, how does that make your wallet rumble?" Lara laughed and stood up.

"I'm sorry, I only play for sport." She said quickly.

"Then you'll like a big part." Lara looked back down at the screen as it changed to a snowy mountaintop. "Peru," she started again, "vast mountain ranges to cover. Sheer walls of ice. Rocky crags, savage winds and, there's this little trinket. An age-old artifact of mystical power buried in the unfound Tomb of Qualopec." Natla smiled. Lara was thoroughly intrigued now.

"That's my interest. You could leave tomorrow…are you busy tomorrow?" Lara smiled.

"Actually, I'm free all month." She lied. She had an appointment to meet with her friend Anaya Imanu in Las Vegas, but she could call that little trip off. "Perfect, I'll arrange your meeting with a guide and by tomorrow you should be in Peru." Natla said, smiling. Lara's own smile faltered a bit. "I'm getting a guide?" She asked. Natla nodded, then quickly motioned for Larson to turn off the laptop. He took Lara's home phone number and tried placing a kiss on her forehead. She backed away, raising an eyebrow at him. He coughed and shrugged, then quickly left the Imperial Hotel.

At home, Winston greeted her with open arms. She gave him a warm smile. "How was Calcutta?" He asked. She nodded.

"It was okay, very nice backdrops." He nodded.

"So, what about this meeting with Miss Jacqueline Natla?" Lara smiled.

"Have you ever heard of the Tomb of Qualopec?" She asked him, sitting down on her luxurious sofa. He followed her and shook his head. "I can't say that I have." Lara shook with excitement. "I haven't either." He looked at her a moment longer, and sighed with a smile. "You truly amaze me Lady Croft. If only your father could see you." Lara lowered her head, then jumped up toward her equipment room. Her friend Zip usually occupied it, but that changed when he left with his old flame Natalya Damescu. She looked around on the Internet for a moment, but couldn't find anything about any old relics or artifacts or a Tomb of Qualopec. "You remember your quest for The Ark? In Ethiopia?" Winston asked. Lara had tried to keep that little memory suppressed as much as she could. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, that was about 3 years ago. It was your first major adventure. This will only be your second." She shrugged. "I've traveled, I've sharpened my shooting skills, I've-" Winston cut her off. "That's not what I mean. I know you are more than in shape for this, but I just-" This time Lara cut him short. "I'll be fine Winston, don't worry." She placed her hand on the side of his face then started upstairs toward a hot shower and some sleep.

It was about 11:30pm when her phone started ringing. She reached toward her belt and holsters hanging on her bedpost that was holding her two silver pistols, but stopped and pulled the sheet off her bed. She walked over to her wall phone and picked it up. "Hello?" She said groggily. "Hey, this is Jacqueline Natla. Is Lara Croft there?"

"Speaking." She said, annoyed at how perky Natla was.

"Hey, I have your arrangements. You are to meet your guide at the foot of Mount Kermises in Peru. I checked the forecast, it looks like snow so dress warmly."

"Who is my guide?" Lara asked after a few seconds.

"He's of Latin American descent, his name is Carlos Verdugo." Lara pondered at the thought of his image. "Hello?" Came Natla's voice. Lara shook her head.

"Yeah sorry. Okay thank you Miss Jacqueline." Lara didn't know why but she hoped that putting an edgy, sort of sarcastic tone to her name would aggravate Natla. "No problem, Miss Croft." She replied, doing the same to her. Lara sat the receiver down, then shrugged and headed back over to her canopy bed.

The M18 helicopter dropped her off in a little village a few miles from the base of the mountain. She went into their market place, looking around in wonder. She had been to Peru before, but it always seemed to have something new every time she went. People were walking around, laughing and talking, picking goods from the various kiosks. Lara had dressed in her tight blue sleeveless tank top and short brown shorts with her belt and attached holsters complete with her pistols. On her back was the brown backpack she used to carry her health kits, spare ammunition, and anything else that she found. To cover that up, and keep warm, she had an ornate hand woven shaw which was brown with colorful designs. It wasn't snowing to bad, but there was some snow on the ground and the wind would bring an occasional chill. Finally she saw another helicopter in the distance. "Must be him…" She whispered and walked over to the heliport. It landed, and a tanned, skinny man wearing a larger hiking backpack, a hat that looked like a mix between a cowboy hat and a sombrero, and a big brown jacket and poofy hiking pants. He looked in her direction and smiled. "Lara Croft?!" He called over the roar of the helicopter engine. She nodded, and they headed back toward the marketplace. "When they told me I was guiding a tomb raider, I expected something…well…" She smiled.

"Different?" She finished for him. He laughed.

"Sure, I guess that's the word I'm looking for." The pushed past some people in the market place and started the hike toward the mountain. It wasn't gigantic, but it was a pretty good sized mountain. "So, you ever rock climbed before?" He asked. She shrugged.

"Once or twice." She said, putting on her favorite round framed sunglasses. The reddish tint contrasted to her lightly tan skin nicely. "Ever been here in Peru before?" She nodded. "A couple times yes, I like to travel." He laughed.

"Me to, one time I was in this old temple near Mexico and I stepped on this stone that opened a door, but it was on a timer so I had to press it then sprint over before the door closed. It was cool." She smiled, wanting to keep her stories to herself as to not look like she was bragging. His voice was a little high and thick with the Latin American accent. As they reached the base of the mountain, it had begun to snow a little. "Now, when you climb without a harness you should remember to-" He stopped as Lara pulled herself up and began climbing the mountain. "Hey, I thought I was the guide!?" He yelled jokingly. After a few feet the mountain leveled off a bit, and they slowly hiked up the increasing incline. After about 20 yards they had to climb some more, and finally about halfway up it leveled off once more. Up ahead Lara could see two stone doors about as tall as her entire mansion. Above it were three odd symbols. "Wait, I've seen this before." She whispered. She pulled out some printouts she had made before heading out. She scanned them and found what she was looking for. There wasn't an explanation to the symbols, but they were discovered when explorers found the ancient City of Vilcabamba, created by ancient Peruvians. "Natla didn't tell me this Tomb of Qualopec was related to Vilcabamba." She said aloud.

"What?" Carlos asked her. She looked around, smiling. She took his rope and hook gun and fired it up to the door. It attached to an unseen ledge, and she tugged on it to make sure it was secure. "Hey wait, what are you doing?" Carlos yelled, following her to the bottom of the doors. She placed her feet on the stone and pushed up, then began ascending the giant structure. She could feel the air getting colder every few feet she went up. The snow had picked up a little, and it blew the hood of her shaw back. Her long brunette braid began blowing in the wind, like it was trying to get off of her head. Finally at the top, she was near the large symbol that was square in shaped, filled with vertical slants and designs, and toward the bottom was circular shape. She reached over and placed her hand on it, the pushed. It was stiff, but it slowly sunk in, making an indention. There was an enormous sound of stone scraping against stone, and the monstrous doors slowly opened. She looked down and saw Carlos peering in, taking a few timid steps forward. She smiled and started to go down when several sharp howls pierced the air. She looked down to see a pack of five wolves rushing toward Carlos. He had a thick wooden stick raised, but that would do no good. Lara gripped the rope and slid down, trying to ignore the pain caused from the rope burn. As she neared the bottom she pulled a knife from her boot and cut the rope and free fell a few feet.

She drew both of her pistols and began firing. She could hear wet gushing sounds as Carlos tried to scream in pain. She killed two of the wolves, and the other three turned their attention toward her. One rushed at her from the right, and she shot it twice in the face. The second came from her left, and it leaped up. She extended her leg, giving it a swift kick to the chest. It collapsed, unable to breathe. The third was quick, and pounced at her. He barely went over her as she stumbled back, firing several shots into its back. It fell down, squirming and howling in pain. It a so pathetic and such a sad sight. Lara turned away as she fired once more into the dying creature's skull.

She ejected the empty magazines and reloaded her pistols, then holstered them and ran over to Carlos' unmoving body. She could tell from the massive amounts of blood that he was already dead, but she knelt down and picked up his wrist, squeezing slightly for a pulse. There was nothing. She dropped it, then looked up at the massive structure again. The wind blew furiously, and Lara hugged herself. She walked forward, taking a few steps inside.

As she did, she heard an odd mechanical sound, and in a deafening boom the stone doors slammed closed. She took off her glasses and placed them in her backpack, then looked forward at the large path ahead of her. She raised an eyebrow, then smiled.