This is a fanfic I based off of Tomb Raider: Underworld and an old idea I had. This involves OC's, so no Lara, sorry.

In NO way do I own Tomb Raider or Tomb Raider: Underworld, all rights are reserved to Eidos and WB Games.

TR: Gaia

CHPTR I

Malaysia: Andaman Sea 2:32 PM

Gripping the harpoon gun in her hands, she began reloading it as she caught a glimpse of the hammerhead shark charging for her, in the corner of her eye. Swimming sideways, she avoided its initial attack, forcing it to run its enormous head to run into a coral wall, forcing the fish that slept in the alcoves of it to begin dispersing upon the impact of the run in. The swell of the scurrying fish and their vibrations, caused the shark quite a bit of confusion, which in turn gave her the chance to strike him in the side with a harpoon.

The dark, red blood of the shark began to seep out of the insertion point, and into the clear waters of warm, Malaysian reef. However, as badly as it hurt, he didn't seem to let it faze him for too long, since he didn't waste any time getting back to chasing her, his dinner. There was a groan that escaped her lips, and reverberated into the breathing apparatus that covered the lower half of her face. She knew that the shark, being in his habitat, had the ability to out swim her, so scrambling for the surface to safety would be a rather futile attempt. So, giving up, she holstered the useless harpoon gun on her back again, to reach down for the pistol wrapped around her bare leg. She never had the intention to use it to harm animals; the only reason why she carried it was the real predators of the sea…pirates.

"Sorry," she would utter, as sincerely as possible. Raising the gun to the beast's eyelevel, she squeezed off a bullet, to let it puncture through the brains of the hammerhead, and immediately end its life. "Damn…" There was a beeping in her earpiece, as she looked at the dead shark float limply in the current. Her oxygen was running low and she still didn't have a relic to show for it. However It was unfortunately time to resurface again, whether she liked it or not, and as she replaced her handgun in her leg holster, she began kicking her feet, to start heading for the light above her, that radiated in the water around her, and the underside of boat, that blocked it slightly.

***

There was a Bunny Wailer song playing through an old, red radio, and it filled the deck of their ship with the sounds of the Caribbean, the place where he was born and raised. Taking a hold of a cold beer out of an aged and worn cooler, he placed it against his sweating forehead to cool himself down, before he popped it open to take a sip out of it. Loosening his grip on the lid of the cooler, it dropped closed, and he pushed down on a chipped latch to try to lock it. "This is bogus!" He gave up with the useless latch, as he slammed his hand against the top of the overused cooler. "These sponsors can afford to spend cash on guns, state of the art technology, and yachts, but you're telling me they can't buy a decent cooler!?" Taking another sip of his beer, he crossed the deck to relax against the railing. "All the ice I bought is already water, and we haven't even been out here for two hours."

There was a form that laughed behind a bunch of laptop screens, under the darkness of a sunshade. "I don't think it was really a necessity that crossed their minds, Tao." Pushing out his chair, he got up and out of the little workspace, to begin heading to a lip, jetting out of the aft end of the boat he walked upon. "Plus, I think the sponsors rather you be sober, when you take us back to shore…captain." Taking a hold of the can in his hand, he poured the contents out into the ocean, against Tao's regard, before he crushed the can in his hand, and tossed it back to him. "By the way, speaking of heading back to shore, you'd better get the yacht ready for leave; our little explorer should be back any second now."

Taking his crushed can in hand, he sighed as he poured over it with his dark brown eyes. "That was the last can too." Tao sighed. "Oh well, you're probably right."

The water at the rear of the ship began rising, and bubbling, and it was obvious to him that his calculations were correct. He was keeping an eye on her position, while she was under water, via a chip in her utility pack. Bending over, he extended out his hand for her to grab, before he began helping her out of the water and onto the safety of the boat. "So…" He glanced over her getting to her feet, in her dripping wetsuit, as she began to strip off her goggles and the breathing apparatus covering her only way of replying to his inquiry. "…any luck?"

Her head shook side to side. "No Allen, none."

Placing his hands on his hips, he sighed, as he fixed his eyeglasses. "I see."

"I believe we've just been the victims of back sources," Tao would say, as he joined the two at the aft end. "Face it Ren, this trip's a dud."

"No, it isn't. There are still a lot of places we could look," she detested, unwilling to give up. "I just ne---"

"Enough Ren, Tao's right, this is a waste of sponsor dollars and a waste of our time. We're leaving." He turned his back on her, as he did his best to ignore her glower. "Tao, get the ship ready to head back to shore, I'll bring up the anchor." However, before he even had the chance to cross the deck again, he glanced over his should to catch a glimpse of Ren's gun against his head, as he heard a click. "Ren, don't be rash, you know you're better than that, and you know you're not capable of pulling that trigger." He would raise his hands, in the case that she wasn't bluffing. "Does three years of digging together mean nothing to you?"

Tao blinked irregularly, as he witnessed what was going on, on the deck of his rented ship. "Ren, are you crazy!?"

"No!" She glared at their young captain in her peripheral view, as she pushed the barrel of her pistol closer to the back of Allen's head. "I'm perfectly sane, Tao." Ren did her best to keep him out of this, as she reached down with her free hand to begin unbuckling her utility pack around her hips. "Look inside." Never easing her eyes off of Allen, she tossed the bag to the six foot Jamaican to the left of her. "Open it!!!"

"Okay, okay!" He did, if only a bit afraid of what would happen if he didn't.

Tao looked inside; however all he could see were the typical supplies of every diver. Glancing up over the pack in his hands, he watched Ren prompt him to look hard, without words…so he did, and he eventually pulled out a blinking chip between his fingers. "Is this a---?"

"Tracking device? Yes." Tao and her both glared at Allen, as they both knew he was the only one who would know how to use such a thing. "Why, Allen, why is it in my pack?"

He shook his head disappointedly. "It's for your safety; Ren, you and I both know you like to wander."

"Wrong answer!" She didn't pull the trigger, 'because he was right, she couldn't. However, that didn't stop her from hitting him in the side of the head real good with the gun in her hand. "Now, I'll ask again!" Walking around him, hunched over and bleeding over the deck, she kicked him in the side to force him on his back. "Why is it in my pack Allen!?" Climbing on top of him, she squeezed his arms against his sides with her knees, as she drew a combat knife out of a holster over her shoulder. "Who told you to put it in my pack!?"

Pinned on his back he glanced up at her, as she pressed the blade of her knife to his neck, and to tell the truth, he couldn't help but start laughing condescendingly. "Now, now Ren, you knew this would happen eventually. Do you really think sponsors could pay for all of this?" There was a large shadow over their yacht, and they all glanced up to see what it was. "Now, does that answer your question?" He asked her, as the enormous cargo ship began to close in on them. "I hear they have quite a grudge against you, Ren, for killing one of their captains. They wanted you dead, but they were willing to pay, quite handsomely in fact, to have you alive." Ren began easing off of him, and he got back to his feet to dust himself off. "Plus, every good archeologist knows, there isn't anything of value in the Andaman Sea."

"Pirates? You got involved with pirates!?" Tao asked, however, didn't require answer.

"Pirates, scum, barbarians, whichever. Either way, they pay better than any dig ever could."

They began to bond their anchor, to their own, as Ren began to figure out how they were going to get out of this one. "Tao, take the dinghy out of here."

"No Ren, I'm not leaving without you!"

Glancing over her shoulder, she smirked in his direction as reassuringly as possible. "You know me, and like Allen said, I like to wander. We'll see each other again…we always do…" Tao began leaving, as the pirates began boarding the yacht. They didn't need him, so they wouldn't stop him, and even if they tried, she wouldn't allow them to. Sliding her knife back into its sheath, she sighed as she looked ahead to her adversaries, and how they quickly began to outnumber her, and the very few chances she had of getting out of this, began to diminish. "…I hope."

There was a well dressed man who began heading to the rail of the opposing ship, to look down at the two behind his sunglasses. "Here she is!" Allen would exclaim, as he lunged for her, to hold her arms behind her, in case she was thinking about doing anything fishy. Ren wriggled, but he just squeezed his hands around her arms tighter, every time she tried to get loose. "Now where's my money!?"

"Detain the girl, and put her in the brig!" The stranger in the aviators spoke up, to order his goons around. "Oh, and give our kind friend his reward."

"You know they're just going to kill you Allen. They're pirates, they don't keep promises!" Ren would do all she could to avoid being apprehended by these people, she didn't want to have to see what they'd do to her, after what she did to them. "Allen, don't do this please, your making a huge mistake!"

"Oh shut up!" He would sneer at her, as he pushed her into the arms of one of the gun toting pirates, who would inevitably begin dragging up the ramp to their ship. "The only mistake I ever made was letting you take the credit for everything I've accomplished over the years! Then not getting any incentive out of you for it!" It was obvious what he was talking about, and she knew, and it was quite evident when she wrinkled her brows at him.

"Pig!"

"Now, where's my reward?"

"Right here, friend," the goon standing beside him would say, as he smirked and raised his gun to Allen's head, before he fired.

"NO!!!" His blood and brains were splattered all over the deck of the pristine yacht. She knew this was going to happen, but he didn't listen, and he paid in the end for it. "Allen, you fool," she'd say under her breath, as she shook her head. They'd carry her off to the brig now, and it was so pointless to fight, and yet even if she tried she didn't have the heart to do it, as she just watched a good friend, however much of a fool he was, loose his life at her expense.