Fade Away

Disclamer: I do not own Lara Croft or Kurtis Trent; they belong to their respectable owners. This is just for entertainment reading, and a concept story.

This is the sequel to Meeting Up Once Again With The Bugman Warrior, so it's recommended to read that one first :)

Lara Croft's rented penthouse suite... Morning time...

Lara Croft didn't know where to start... She had found and caught up with Kurtis Trent, the stranger who recently keeps turning up in her life as a shadow, only yesterday. However the next morning, he disappeared from Lara's rented department in Paris, without saying a word of anything or even leaving her a note to where he was headed. The trail had gone cold, and Lara did not know at what time he had left the building or how long he had been gone for. Lara had thought it through again and again, but for her it didn't add up right...

'Why did he go off so suddenly?'

'Didn't he trust me?'

'Where is he headed for?'

'Why didn't he take me with him?'

Those questions resounded in Lara's mind, and she couldn't answer them. With hand on her heart, she promised yesterday that she wanted to be involved with the mission he had got himself into too. Yet Lara felt somehow betrayed by Kurtis's decision of leaving her in the penthouse and going the mission alone, not respecting her decision on her promised involvement in the matter. He definitely had some explaining to do, but that's if Lara was able to find him again...

'Where would he have gone to?' Lara continually thought, taking herself back to last night, where Kurtis explained the situation to her. She managed to bring up a few facts that may help with her little investigation as to find out the whereabouts of Mr. Trent. These facts were of the following:

-He had already broken into the laboratories of the organisation that recovered the Nephilim samples and is on the run.

-He was looking for a safe place/sanctuary for the Nephilim sample, due to being unable to destroy it. He'd already tried the Hall Of Seasons, but it was blocked off from any sort of access.

-Kurtis is being hunted down by the organisation that he took the Nephilim sample off, and he is on top of their wanted list.

By going through these facts, Lara decided on what her plan of action was going to be. It was that second, she remembered that the two men whom inspected her penthouse yesterday had left a calling card for her. Leaving it at the tableside that late afternoon, Lara picked the calling card up again and examined it once more. To her surprise she had skipped over some of the valuable information it had. Lara began to read every word from the card:

Neil Peach

Any enquires or questions please call:

0744675343810

A Special Employee of:

The Income Cleaning and Research Corporation

Forming a new plan to find out the whereabouts of Kurtis Trent, she needed further information and the necessary equipment to do the plan. The time had come. Lara picked up the phone and started dialling the numbers in...

Kurtis Trent on the run...

'How could I have just walked out on her!' Kurtis kept on regretting to himself, as he carried on walking in the shadows of the street. But he thought what he had done was for the best, Lara didn't need to be involved into any danger that he was about to face. Kurtis knew he did right, although there was something else that made him leave Lara earlier, and it is buried deep within his body and soul...

Kurtis couldn't deny it. He had to admit it to himself that he was starting to fall in love with Lara Croft. Spending time with her yesterday night confirmed his feelings for her to be true, he couldn't dismiss them at all. 'Even after everything we've been though...' Kurtis's mind kept on constantly wandering off his mission goals, and focused more on Lara. He never felt the same way about anyone else, ever. Everything that love brought as a mixture of feelings was entirely new to him, and Kurtis didn't want those feelings to jeopardise this important journey...

In fact, the real reason of why he didn't want Lara to get involved was the fact that he didn't want to see her get hurt, or even worse... That's why he kept on telling himself, he did the right thing. Once this business is done and Kurtis is free from the most wanted list hunt of The Income Cleaning and Research Corporation, only then he would return to Lara and work out how to express his feelings to her. It was at that moment, all he could think about was holding her gently in his arms, closer to each other, just like that dance last night...

He quickly came back to reality, and knew he couldn't keep imagining these feelings. What would happen if he was at a crucial stage, where it was either a decision of life or death, and he wouldn't be able to concentrate...He would most certainly be a goner for sure. Slowly but surely, Kurtis allowed these feelings to fade away, as he carried on through the streets, being wary of any hidden cameras, or personnel of that corrupted organisation patrolling around. His destination was no longer the Louvre gallery, since the entrance to the Tomb of the Ancients was fully obstructed from any access whatsoever. He had to think on his feet quick, 'Where would be the safest place for this sample?' He sought further on to find that particular answer...

Lara's Penthouse...Mid-day...

Lara paced up and down her lounge, awaiting her visitor's arrival from her proposition. 'Have I done the right thing?' A worried Lara wondered. It was certainly a tense time for her, had she made the right call?

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Lara took a deep breath, and opened the door with a warm smile on her face. Wearing similar clothes to yesterday, Neil Peach still hid his eyes behind those dark shades, and a wide grin appeared on his face. In his hand, he gripped a professional leather briefcase, no doubt paperwork and files for her to look and observe.

"Ah, hello again Ms. Croft, didn't think we meet again on the next day" Neil Peach happily greeted Lara at the entrance doorway.

"Neither did I really, but I knew this was something I wanted to do earlier on this morning, please come in Neil" Lara replied, and signalled Neil to come into her luxurious rented penthouse.

"Why thank you. First let me say, thank you very much for your call Ms. Croft, we'll be happy to accept you as one of our recruits. We will need all the help we can get to catch this pest of a Bugman. So far we know he's somewhere around this area, but we don't know exactly where. I have all the necessary information and gear you require to help us out in our hunt for him!" Neil explained with enthusiasm in his voice.

"Excellent, please take a seat, would you like something to drink?" Lara asked her guest.

"No thank you Ms. Croft, this should only be a short visit to get you prepared for your duties on patrol"

"Right you are, when and where do I start?"

"Amazingly today, your task is to cover this whole area. To do that we have provided you with a top of the range, state of the art all terrain 4x4 vehicle. Also in this briefcase holds essential equipment that can be used to help aid your search" Neil began to clarify Lara.

"What have you got?

"We've got the latest in high tech equipment, as standard we will supply you with Night Vision Goggles, a Smartphone with our software installed, so you are part of our network you can say. This phone is fitted with the latest in technology, including a distress signal, a sonar sensor, a one button direct link to us, and a memory wiper. You will also be fitted with weaponry, here... You will have the license to use these dual H&K USP match pistols, which have been upgraded with laser pointers and suppressors. Furthermore we will supply you with a tranquiliser gun, so that if you do find this man, you will have the chance to bring him back to us, alive...Would you need instructions or any help in using this equipment?"

"No, I think I should be alright with them, I have had experience with some of this equipment before" Lara replied, picking up the one of the USP match pistols, reloading a clip into it and pulling back the barrel of the gun.

"I'm locked and loaded" Lara joked with some confidence.

"Good, now here is some paperwork that you will need to sign and look at to understand what kind of character we are dealing with"

Neil handed over the additional paperwork for Lara to examine. One by one she read through them, such as the pictures they have been able to get of Kurtis Trent, but still his name was unknown to the organisation.

"Do you understand what your mission is Ms. Croft? Find this man, and by all means necessary, engage him and bring his body back to us. We hope he will be alive, since he holds something valuable to us, but we can accept if it was dead too..."

"Yes I understand my responsibilities" Lara answered.

"Furthermore, if we find you hesitating or plan on betraying us, we will not delay in decommissioning you...and you know what that means don't you Ms. Croft?"

"Yes" Lara responded.

"Right, let's not waste any more time, put on the gear and I'll show you to your car that you'll be using during this hunt"

"Thanks"

"You will be now known to the organisation as Agent 136, or in simple terms, we all will be referring to you as... Agent Croft"...