A Knight and a Lady
Chapter 1
Thin, wispy clouds floated by outside the windows of the Gulfstream G550, seemingly without a care in the world. The plane cruised casually through the troposphere, swiftly crossing the Atlantic. Lady Lara Croft leant back in her multi-position leather seat in the cabin of the executive jet. In her hand, she held a small envelope embossed with the logo of the Wayne Foundation in gold. It contained her personal invitation to the latest of many charity auctions organized by the Foundation. The items up for bidding would include various artifacts the intrepid adventuress had unearthed.
In her other hand, she held one of the more precious items up for bidding. The Eleazor Phial, as it was called in Arabic. The vessel was small but ornate, covered in beautiful carvings. She still didn't quite know why it was called a "phial", as Lara saw no feasible way to open it. Her thoughts drifted back to the events which had led to her finding the phial…
The dust settled around Lara as she surveyed the scene in front of her. A high-strength explosive had cleared away thousands of years of neglect, exposing what remained of an ancient middle-eastern town. Her companions gave her the thumbs up as she sauntered towards what attracted her attention the most: a covered well.
Lara heaved the wooden paneling aside, and dropped a bright red flare into the depths of the well. It hissed, casting light on the circular stone walls. At last, it hit the floor. "I'm going in," Lara declared. The men who had agreed to help her on this expedition rigged her up. Lara attached the carabiner to her belt and descended into the well, holding another flare with her free arm. Lara studied the stone wall on the way down. It was covered with carvings, glyphs depicting what looked like a man rising from a smoking pit in the ground. Wells almost never featured this oddity. All of a sudden, the rope gave way and Lara tumbled to the ground. Thankfully, the sand softened her landing.
The flare still had some way to go. Lara felt the wall with her hands. Suddenly, one of the blocks pushed in. A creaking was barely audible, as Lara turned around and saw one of the bricks slide out of the wall. It was hollow, and in it was a mysterious capsule, small but covered with ornate carvings. She had just enough time for a quick look before she heard the distinct sounds of gunfire far above. The rope was no longer there. Lara's closed in around a circular device on her belt, as a long tether shot up, its harpooned end wrapping around the support beam up above. She prayed it would hold as she ascended, pocketing the phial. She was met with quite an unpleasant sight.
The bodies of her companions lay around, as bullets kicked up the sand all around her. Lara leapt, dodging the deadly spray. She landed in the soft sand, getting to her feet. With a well-aimed shot from one of the two pistols she produced, she incapacitated one of her masked assailants. The harsh desert sun beat down on her, as beads of sweat formed at her brow. She turned round; delivering what she hoped was a lethal kick to the head of one of the goons. One of the goons noticed the phial peeking out from her pocket. "The Demon!" he exclaimed. Lara was momentarily puzzled. Before she could finish the thought, a man on a dirt bike rode by. "Lara! Come on!" he shouted. Lara bolted in the direction of the vehicle, and they rode away to safety.
Lara's thoughts snapped back to the auction she was about to attend. She quite liked the idea of attending the auction, cavorting with the high society she was supposed to be a part of. After all, the events of the past month involving the evil shipping magnate Lynn Tan and the mystical Crown of Utama had left her needing a little relaxation.
She was headed for Gotham on the eastern coast of the United States, a city that was equal parts dangerous and glamourous, much like Lara herself. Gotham was also home to the mysterious vigilante known as Batman. Lara found herself mildly fascinated by the unorthodox method in which the Dark Knight doled out justice. If she was lucky, perhaps she would be able to glimpse this figure of the night for herself.
Far less interesting, by Lara's estimation at least, was Bruce Wayne, the orphaned multi-billionaire who was also her host. The man seemed to fit the stereotype of a bored, rich playboy in every sense. It was gracious of him to invite her to the auction, of course. Wayne had even offered to let Lara stay at his mansion for the short period she was there. He was extremely handsome as well. Still, Lara had sifted through her fair share of suitors that fitted Wayne's profile, and each one had been selfish and aloof.
Her attention turned to the two men who were accompanying her on this trip. They wore dark glasses, stoic and expressionless. Lara sighed and shook her head. Winston had insisted that bodyguards chaperone her on this particular journey, as "Gotham is no place for a woman to be alone in the dark". Lara was slightly peeved, as she thought her loyal valet of all people would know she was the last person alive who would need a bodyguard. Lara had survived far meaner than the streets of Gotham. Besides, Lara was always one to treasure her own personal space.
As if reading her mind, the men seemed to stir. Lara ignored the movement. However, all of a sudden, the "bodyguards" began to stand up from their seats, brandishing guns. "Give us the phial", one of them barked angrily. Lara held the object up in her hand, inspecting it for a moment. The men looked at her expectantly.
Lara simply said, "No". Her eyes narrowed and she got up, delivering a kick to the head of one of her assailants. He was thrown back into the cabin wall. Lara reached for her guns, but realised they had been taken. No matter, she thought to herself. The silenced pistol the attacker was carrying coughed angrily, embedding bullets in the plush surroundings of the aircraft. The slight turbulence that plagued the plane was doing nothing to help her situation. Lara reached for her trusty pistols, however dropping the phial in the process.
"Bugger!" Lara said under her breath. The man instinctively dove down, grasping the phial. Lara aimed for his hand and shot twice. He grasped it in it, howling and the dropping the phial once more. It rolled under a nearby seat. Lara was surprised at how robust the phial actually was, since she had expected it to break at one point or another. Lara reached under the seat, groping around in the darkness to find the precious object. "Come on…" she said through gritted teeth. The attacker whom she had kicked earlier got to his feet, and stamped his foot down on Lara's back. Lara cringed and used one hand to find the phial and the other, still holding the gun, to shoot her assailant. She twisted the pistol in her hand and fired. She knew she had hit her target when the man yelped in pain. At around the same time, Lara's hands closed around the phial, which she slid into the safety of her pocket. Lara dragged both her assailants, one by one, to the door of the Gulfstream. Lara yanked the door open. The wind blew through her long, brown hair. The two attackers pleaded with her not to kill them. "No, that's gravity's job," Lara smiled. With that, she shoved them out the door, as they yelled, tumbling through the wispy clouds to certain doom.
Having almost been killed was not a new experience, but this particular one had led her to regard the phial she held in her hands with a certain suspicion. Was it more than just a glorified paperweight? Lara had tried to extrapolate the markings but found nothing, except Eleazor. This might have been the name of the owner. Alister, her eccentric archaeologist friend, had suggested that it might have been a phial of some sort, perhaps containing a mystic potion. The only problem was, Lara had tried most methods short of breaking the phial open. Lara had now decided the object had caused her more grief than anything else and would be glad to get rid of it at the auction.
Much to her relief, the rest of Lara's flight remained largely uneventful. Finally, the spires of Gotham's skyline caught her eye. Small, red lights blinked irregularly, warning aircraft not to approach. Lara wondered if they were warning her, as well. Cars zipped through the motorways, in between the towering, art-décor skyscrapers which featured far too many arches and gargoyles, which seemed out of place for the time. Smoke curled into the air, adding to the light and noise pollution which Lara could sense even from the cabin of the Gulfstream G550. The runway was up ahead, faintly illuminated by small lights. The airport seemed to have a tense atmosphere, but since they were given clearance to land, Lara shrugged the thought off. The landing gear hit the tarmac, and just moments later Lara opened the door to her Gulfstream, ready to descend the stairs before her. However, what she saw made her realise her troubles had just begun.