Lara Croft

Tomb Raider:

Siberian heat

The phone started to ring; Lara woke up and answered the phone in a weary demeanour,

"Hello? Who is it?" she asked,

"Never mind now, I need you to go to and find something in Smolensk there's something there I need. I will supply you with travel to and from Russia with no expense to you; I need you to be at Heathrow Airport at 12:00 hours today. I will explain there." Answered a mysterious Russian voice.

"OK, I will also need to no NOW who you are and what I am looking..." She replied as the phone went dead.

Lara went to the airport as requested with her trusty side arms stripped down in her luggage with Teflon coated bullets to evade the metal detectors, this worked. She gave her passport to the woman at the checking in desk.

"Has anyone asked you to put anything in the bag for them?" Enquired the woman at the desk.

"No, I packed it myself and there is nothing in there that shouldn't be. Thanks." Replied Lara hastily.

"Ok, it's just a routine question. Is that rucksack hand luggage?" said the blonde young woman at the desk.

"Yes." Lara replied to the endless questions.

"Departure to Russia at Gate 3 boarding now rows 16-20" said the tannoy as Lara was finishing her coffee. She looked down at her ticket and saw that it was row 15b. She looked in her rucksack to make sure that her holster was still there, it was.

"Departure to Russia at Gate 3 boarding now rows 10-15" the tannoy bellowed out. She gave a quick smile to another bleach blonde woman as she handed her ticket over.

"Can we have a quick word with you please, Miss Lara Croft?" Said the woman surprisingly to Lara, had they found the guns?

"Uh, yea. Don't see why not!" Stammered Lara as she braced herself for arrest.

"Just a random survey that we are circulating as part of our customer care policy." Said the blonde woman.

"In that case, no. I don't want to delay the plane as I have business to attend to. Sorry about that." Replied a relieved Lara.

Lara prepared herself for a dangerous quest in the icy wastes of the Siberian tundra. She wondered what she was looking for, a holy relic, an artefact or something from the time of the Russian Tsars. What Lara didn't know was why it was she the mysterious voice called for the retrieval of the object. Was Russia the only place she was going to visit for the object? She put her weapons back together again in her apartment in a top Russian hotel close to the Ukrainian border. The phone rang. The same voice answered the phone like back at Lara's surrey mansion.

"Ms Lara Croft I presume?" The mysterious voice said.

"Correct, now what is it you want me to look for? And payment for my ammunition costs. Along with some extra 9mm bullets and 2 silencers, just in case." Demanded Lara as she answered the phone.

"Aren't you a demanding woman, how does your butler cope? I will get two silencers for you as well as 10 magazines for those 9mm's of yours. Along with 3000 of your English pounds when I receive the artefact, that is also known as, the Baghdad battery. Which dates back from 300 years before Christ. It is being held in a museum in Moscow, you are in Smolensk so your not too close to Moscow and close to an international airport in case it is transported anywhere else, which it is scheduled to in 3 days time, to Egypt ..." explained the mysterious voice.

"EGYPT?" exclaimed Lara, "when can you get the silencers and the ammo to me for, a museum raid isn't an issue. Seeing as it was me who infiltrated the louvre from its storm drains!"

"2 days time, giving you about 12 hours to get in there and out. We ..." the voice started.

"WE? What do you mean we? What is your organisation? I may refuse to work now. What am I gonna do for 2 days?!" Lara interrupted again.

"We are a Ufology department, we need that to test the casing to see if that material is either from earth or not. Please, there is a gun shop 2 blocks away I'm sure they stock silencers!" said the voice in a hurry.

Lara purchased the silencers and readied her holsters underneath a long leather jacket with a small top, camouflage jeans, doc marten boots and her trade mark wrist guards with sunglasses as she prepared to raid the natural history museum in central Moscow.

She decided to enter from the rooftop, as that was the easiest option. Now it's just getting there. She spotted a ladder from the back of the catering loading bay and the kitchen door ajar, she decided to scrap the rooftop idea and infiltrate through the kitchen which seemed to be a hard, guard ridden route. She chose this route as if anyone saw her they would be in front of her and not behind her whilst she had her guns holstered. She loaded her dual 9mm USP pistols, fitted the silencers and flexed her guns by aiming at a nearby window. She put her jacket in a safe corner under the ladders leading to the rooftop as she planned her exit route from the top of the building. Lara was ready to go.

She entered the door and snuck past the some of the catering staff and entered the main museum area by going through the air ducts that had just been replaced, but forgotten about. She holstered the guns and looked for the Assyrian section, which is modern day Iraq.

Bang, one of the vents fell from under her. She had no choice but to go down there and eradicate anyone who was down there. This wasn't Lara's chosen plan. As she lowered her self down the vent a guard spotted her. As she let go she drew her pistols from their holsters and shot 6 bullets at the guard, non missed, he fell with blood dripping from the wounds surrounding his vital organs in his torso. Target practise and past adventures prevented Lara from missing the Russian target. She reloaded her guns once more and spotted something that she would think was a vase, this turned out to be the battery from Iraq. She didn't have to worry about alarms seeing as the electricity was down for maintenance; thankfully the cameras weren't working either. Lara is also a master thief. She placed the artefact in her bag and decided to go out through the door and not the air ducts as that wasn't a challenge. The roof was still going to be aimed for as an exit route. It was nearly mid-night when Lara passed the Egypt section; this sparked a curiosity in her, as she is a profound archaeologist and knows a lot about Egypt. She spotted an armed guard with his back turned against her whilst he was staring at a canopic jar, which holds the organs of Egyptian pharaohs, in amazement. Lara holstered one pistol and crept up behind the guard taking him by surprise whilst holding the pistol at his head warning him not to move, she pulled the hammer to warn the guard, as Lara doesn't speak Russian. She pulled the trigger anyway as she was in a hurry to find the roof exit as soon as possible. Lara changed the magazines again just in case she is caught up in a firefight involving Russian guards. Lara also picked up the guards sub-machine gun and hid the body inside an empty sarcophagus. Lara took the other gun from its holster and peered around the corner to make sure that the coast was clear for her to go through.

Lara found the roof exit; she also found that the door out was a fire escape meaning that there would be an alarm on it. Thankfully there was an air duck circulating fresh air around the museum. The cover of the air duct was effortlessly removed and she crawled in and placed it back on. The maze of pipes started to get repetitive as Lara frequently went round in circles. She spotted something she had not seen before in the network of pipes, a dim light, which looked like the sun. So Lara kicked down the grate, she startled a guard that started to run to Lara and fire bullets at her whilst she was drawing her guns from her holsters. She was hit on her shoulder once and then the adrenaline kicked in, she shot both magazines empty into the body of the foolish guard. As the guard fell so did the twin magazines from the handle of Lara's heavily used pistols. She started to breath heavily and her shoulder was bleeding. Lara scurried around in her bag for the bandages she remembered packing before she came, the loot wasn't an issue now to Lara.

Finally after a few minutes the bandages where found and she patched herself up ready to fight another battle. She slung the bag back over her shoulder and drew her cherished pistols from their holsters and loaded them once more, hopefully locating the exit before anyone else decides to shoot her. Lara thought about raising the price for her services seeing as she went through the pain of getting shot. She located the ladders and prayed that her jacket to conceal her holsters and bounty would still be there. The winter sun could be seen in the horizon so Lara set about getting out as quickly as humanly possible. She went down the ladders hoping nobody would see her and as soon as she got down she searched for her coat, had anyone spotted it? It turned out that a fox decided to curl up inside it so Lara shined a light in its eyes to startle it, this worked so she got her jacket back.

Lara got another phone call asking her about her sucsess and she mentioned raising the price by £2500, they aggred to this because the circumstances. They also mentioned that there was a part of the Baghdad battery missing so it was Lara's job to go searching in Egypt where documents tell of a vase that generated electricity, Lara had the jar now all she needed was some of the acid that it runs off, this can only be found naturally in Egypt, whether it will be there is a different matter as the same description has been given out all across the globe and stories on how angels gave them the special tools needed to create them. These special tools are a weak acid and copper rods.

Lara got her first of the wages and the ammunition required, she also got a private plane, to help her ship over her weapons with more discretion from the authorities.

When she arrived in Egypt she had the feeling she was at home again, she never thought of returning after what Werner Von Croy did to her here. This is the last place on earth she would come for herself.

"Hmm, the powers-that-be must be at work, this is no coincidence!" Lara said to herself as she left the plane to step on the land she loves. Lara stopped in a top Cairo hotel overlooking the great pyramids of Giza; these extraordinary monuments have special meaning to Lara seeing as she visited them so often, she feels connected to them. Maybe from a past life not even Lara knows. Lara loaded her guns and slotted them into her holsters like in the Russian hotel she also got a phone call.

"Ms Lara Croft, I presume?" enquired that peculiar Russian voice that Lara has come to know so well over the past couple of days.

"Yea, and first things first, who are you? I know whom you work for just not your name. Also is this the last treasure hunt you're having me on? I have pressing business back home. But my work comes first!" Lara enquired as she stroked her 9mm USP pistol in awe of their trustworthiness and loyalty to Lara over the past few years.

"Well, I am Sergei Korstock, director general of the Moscow Ufology department. As far as we know this will be your last assignment for us over this matter, glad to hear you made it in Egypt. Is the weather nice?" Replied the Russian voice in a sporadic manner. "Don't forget your after a phial of the acid and the documents telling you where it is, and please don't get yourself killed!" finished the cynical Russian voice, immediately the phone went dead again.

Lara was wondering why the Russians want her to do the work & why does the phone go dead after the Russians final words are spoken. She got a letter posted through the apartments door telling her where the ancient documents lie. Apparently they lie directly underneath the great temple of Karnack. Lara has been here before and wonders why she didn't spot the documents on her last Egyptian outing. She got in a rented 4x4 and drove off in the desert. This was going to be an exhilarating adventure Lara thought to herself as she pulled her sunglasses down to look through them.

She arrived at the great temple at half past 3 in the afternoon just as the final group of tourists where leaving, good thing Lara put her guns in the glove compartment! As the tourists bus went out off the horizon Lara took the guns from her glove compartment and loaded the 9mms with the required bullets. Lara entered the temple through the conventional front entrance and then went down a hatch leading to an underground complex of tunnels ending up in a small library still encoded in hieroglyphics, Lara could see, with the aid of diagrams and a extensive knowledge of Egyptian hieroglyphics, that a small scrap of papyrus was the map of labyrinth underneath the sphinx showing the location of the weak, naturally occurring unknown acid in a series of phials. Also mentioned is a great power, one of great significance. The living incarnation of the ancient god Horus, the winged god of the sun. He could prove to be difficult if he decides to get in Lara's way. Hopefully this is just a myth; but in Lara's past experiences nothing is just a myth. Lara was looking forward to doing what she does best, raiding tombs of the ancients.

Lara prepared the 4x4, loaded her pistols and put them in the glove compartment along with the holsters to conceal them from passing people peering into the 4x4. She set off at about half 9 at night to avoid people spotting her entering and exiting the sphinx. Lara took the holster from the glove compartment and strapped the belt around her waist and then the individual gun holster around her legs. She then took the pistols from the glove compartment and placed two clips into the bottom of the pistols. Each would hold 6 9mm bullets. She also had the sub-machine gun she picked up in Moscow in the back of the 4x4 under a jacket. She strapped this to her back just in case something needs turning into a sieve. She put 3 magazines for the sub-machine gun in her backpack along with 6 clips for her pistols. She was hoping that she was only going to come across scorpions and too much sand in her doc martens. She entered the Sphinx through a tunnel underneath it that the ancient documents mention to get to the chamber with the phials. She drew her pistols whilst walking through the dimly lit cramped tunnels that led to a huge room that was swarming with scorpions and scarab Beatles. She threw a lit torch from the wall into the pit of insects and arachnids. They all either scurried away or burnt there and all that was left would be their exoskeletons. Lara would soon discover that the labyrinth of tunnels would lead her right underneath the river Nile and there would still be a raiding party of amateur thieves trying to earn a living. Lara hates this, exploiting the ancients to keep one financially content. Lara raids the tombs as a hobby for historical purposes and to help others learn more about the ancient world. Lara walked into the room where the phials are meant to be. They weren't there. She panicked, did she read the map right? There is something missing if she did, she then realised she was in the dummy chamber to fool treasure hunters. She went into the right room and saw a huge hieroglyphic storyboard explaining how Horus gave the Egyptian people the Jars of acid. She saw the jars, but also heard three Arabic voices. As Lara doesn't speak Arabic she couldn't understand them, they sounded like they are getting closer. She holstered her pistols and drew the sub-machine gun; if there are 3 people her pistols aren't going to be effective! She saw the shadow of one of the Arabic raiders who was holding a rifle.

"Freeze" Lara came out with pointing the sub-machine gun at the Arabic Raiders. The man with the rifle laughed as aimed at Lara pulling the hammer on the gun ready to fire. The sound of sub-machine gunfire spread through the chambers of the sphinx. The light illuminated the room and the other 2 men drew pistols and started firing at Lara. They both missed as they were nervous. Lara finished the magazine off of the sub-machine gun and dropped it drawing her pistols and killed the third and final rival raider. After the fire fight there was a deadly silence only the ambiance of the walls and the river nile above. Lara picked up her Sub-machine gun and slung it onto her back. She picked up all the bodies and took all of the weapons and ammunition from them. Lara aquired a rifle and 2 more 9mm pistols. They were a different, but not widly known model. Lara placed the pistols in her bag and slung the rifle over her shoulder with the sub-machine gun. A hieroglyph told Lara that death awaits those who disturb the Jars without the correct key.

« Hmm, the key must disable a booby trap. « said lara. She searched the bodies of her dead adversaries as it was obvious they had the key, but they didn't. Lara figured that it would be in the fake chamber just to throw any average raider into confusion. The temple builders obviously didn't count on Lara existing! The keyhole also looked like an Ankh. An ancient Egyptian symbol of life. Maybe the jars were a symbol of life to the Egyptians?

Lara found the key and removed the jars, anxiously Lara opened the jars to find them full of a silvery liquid. She exited the sphinx and drove back to her hotel. She took her guns into her luggage. She had a shower to wash away all of the dirt from the firefight inside the sphinx. Lara wondered how the battery works and why people want to know. She got on her private plane to Russia to get her pay and sell the weapons she acquired a she didn't need them. Lara got her pay and returned to her Surry mansion.

"How was your adventure Lara?" Her butler inquired as she entered her home.

"Fine, just a mere flesh wound and shoes full of sand as souvenirs from Russia." Lara answered.

"Sand, Russia?" the butler was stumped! How can there be shoes full of sand in Russia?

"Oh, I was in Egypt for a few days. It's a long story." Replied Lara.

If there are any suggestions and thoughts for this story please can you e-mail them to: Thank you for taking the time in reading my story.