March 18th, 1923

George Mallory sat within an interview room, answering questions from a Reporter who worked for the New York Times Newspaper. Since the beginning of the interview, Mallory showed off a formal yet proud posture as he sat opposite the Reporter, and confidently answered each question. He had made sure that upon first impressions, people knew he was fully confident in pursuing his upcoming expedition. Even so, he wore clothing that suited mountaineering rather than an interview. But with that aside, this Expedition had been most important to him the moment he and his climbing partner Andrew Irvine began the planning, due to the success of the Expedition would lead to the greatest achievement of man-kind. The Aim of this Expedition … was to be the First to Peak Mount Everest.

As each question continued to be asked, Mallory answered with concise yet well-thought answers, giving the correct impression that he knew what he had been doing and what he was talking about. But one particular question had been asked that allowed Mallory to answer with what was true to his mind; an answer that he'll never let go of.

"So, why climb Mount Everest." The Reporter queried, continuously jotting down notes as he asked.

Mallory gave out a small chuckle, feeling as though he had been waiting for this question for his whole life. He drew in a deep breath and answered with the upmost pride.

"… Because it's there."

87 years later…

Nathan Drake leapt into a strong, confident sprint with no plans on stopping for anybody. Sweat had been continuously streaming down his face, looking as though he had just jumped out of a pool of water in a rush. As he ran, a cheesy and cheeky grin was strapped across his face with the mind-set that this situation was all just a game to him. Bouncing roughly against his back was a slightly large, black rucksack strapped onto his right shoulder, his hand tightly clutching it as if refusing to let go. His whole body was covered in jet-black overalls; the same ones that he had worn in many previous heists before this. Nate had always found that they were easy to move around in and successfully allowed him to blend in with the dark surroundings. He ran down a large, open street that was surrounded with towering building on either side; street lights illuminating them in the dusk of midnight. Of course, this street was certainly not empty; commotions could be heard from every direction that seemed to be related to Nate's current situation. Nate hastily whipped his head with curiosity to check on his pursuers; large numbers of London's Metropolitan Police were swiftly on his tail, although seemingly dropping behind. In arrogance, Nate gave out a loud, snarky laugh and continued on with his escape. As he continued his escape, a dozen Police vehicles abruptly barricaded Nate's path in the distance, blocking his escape from the street. But Nate's mind process was far ahead in the game and knew that certain challenges would arise during the escape. He kept his sight on the vehicles in front, ready for anything that headed his way. Just then, more of London's Police swiftly leapt out of the vehicles, wearing tough body armour and holding both batons and riot shields, making it impossible for Nate to slip past.

… Or so they had thought.

Nate had still been running and smiling; even though he saw no chance on getting through head on, he swiftly decided to change his path and sped left towards the nearest building wall. He timed his jump perfectly and grasped onto one of the window ledges with firm grip. He knew he had no time to catch his breath and began to climb towards the rooftop. It had recently been raining and so ledges were fairly slippery to grasp onto; but the strong, rough material on the palm of his gloves helped Nate's grip to the point that it wasn't any difference from a normal climb. He climbed and climbed, refusing to give in to any strains in his body; he knew the police would have called in for more backup, especially helicopters, but that didn't let him hesitate. He finally grasped the top of the building and hoisted himself up with all the strength he had left. He rolled forward onto the textured surface and away from the edge of the building. He instantly transferred the rucksack off from his shoulder but still kept tough grip on the strap in his right hand. With that, he then laid flat on his back and began to catch he breath, gathering up his thoughts and figuring out the next step to his escape. Whilst doing so, he pressed the index finger of his free hand into his ear, pressing his earpiece so that he could clearly hear the communications.

"Now would be good time to bring around the Plane, Sully." Nate called out into the earpiece, completely breathless but still full of energy.

Suddenly, humming sounds began to echo around him, the surface below his body steadily increasing in vibration. Nate hastily leapt up to his feet, his eyes wide with sudden shock. In the distance, three large helicopters began to fly in closer towards Nate's position.
"There are choppers on my tail, Sully! Now's not the time to be faffing about!" Nate Bellowed loudly into his earpiece, becoming increasingly desperate to escape the situation he had been in.
Upon further inspection of his surrounding, Nate could see everything on the rooftop he stood on: Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and the River Thames in the far off distance. But now was no time for him to be sightseeing. He hastily checked nearby rooftops to see if he could jump over without slipping up, but the rooftop he currently stood on seemed to be the only one flat-surfaced in the area.
"FREEZE!" A loud, deep voice bellowed from behind Nate, causing him to give out a frustrating sigh.
Nate turned around reluctantly and caught sight of the police blocking his only exit. They had reached the rooftop using the building's staircase, although had taken longer to reach the top due to checking every floor for his whereabouts. They were now blocking him with riot shields, stepping cautiously closer in hope of apprehending him. In Nate's eyes, the helicopters were closing in fast and Nate had no time for idle chat.
"Good evening gents." Nate began to joke, holding his hands up. He let go of the rucksack and allowed it to fall back to his right shoulder. "Such a wonderful night we are having."
"You are hereby under arrest for stealing valuable artefacts that belongs to the UK government." One of the police officers began to state. "Anything you say will be-"
"Oh, give it a rest!" Nate suddenly interrupted, giving out a cheeky grin. "As you can plainly see; I've won!"
Some of the police officers looked at each other with confused expressions, wondering what he was talking about.

"You've just been cornered on a rooftop by a large number of London's Police and there is no way out." Another officer argued, finding Nate's statement laughable. "Whatever you've been smoking, it certainly won't help you."
Just then, Nate could then hear more rumbling sounds … but they weren't from the helicopters.
"Ah! Well you say that but ... I am a man who doesn't believe in dead ends." Nate stated with a light, truthful tone of voice. "Then again, I did get caught in Istanbul once when I was double-crossed by a douchebag named Harry Flynn. But … he's dead now."
The police began to shuffle closer to Nate, ready to take him down. Nate stepped back in retaliation, his feet on the edge of the rooftop. A few of the police gasped, thinking that Nate would have jumped off the building.

"Come quietly, and we won't have to use force." The first police officer stated cautiously, hoping not to have a suicide case.
"I'm sorry mate but I simply just can't do that." Nate shook his head lightly, his hands dropping down and began to wave at them.
Nate then idly stepped back and fell off the edge of the rooftop; the police hastily reacted, some bellowing "No!"
The helicopters had been near enough and almost had him in their grasp. The police on the roof all ran to the edge where Nate fell from. Most of the police force gave off worried expressions, whilst others couldn't give a damn. Suddenly, a sea-plane shot passed with a rope ladder attached to the door. Next thing they noticed, Nate was holding onto the rope ladder with one hand and teasingly waving with the other. The police force glared on with dumbfounded expressions, unable to believe he had pulled off something so ridiculous. Nate then hastily climbed up the rope ladder towards the plane's door, the bag latched securely on his back. The door suddenly flew open the moment Nate touched the plane; he swiftly caught the edge of the plane's floor and heaved himself up.
"Nice for you to drop by!" The pilot called out cheekily to Nate as he brought up the rope-ladder and shut the door.
Nate quickly leapt to the front of the plane and sat in the co-pilot seat, taking off the rucksack and laying it tight on his lap.
"The choppers are still after us, Sully. We'd best get out of London as soon as possible!" Nate then hastily told him, adrenaline still rushing through his body.
"Don't worry about it. You should know this by now anyway: planes are always faster than helicopters!" Sully assured him, giving off a cool grin and a wink.
"I don't mean now, I mean after we've gotten back to our hideout." Nate shook his head, but then chuckled due to something that popped up in his mind. "I can't wait to see my face all over BBC news by the morning."
"Yep, I can't wait to see your 'lovely' mug." Sully chuckled back, but his smug did not last long. "Listen, Nate, you still haven't told me about your big plan or why you had to go on this ridiculous heist in the middle of London ... or anything at all! What in God's name are you trying to accomplish!?"
"Fine, I'll tell you." Nate sighed frustratingly, readying himself to explain. "These artefacts are important to my plan and the heist had to be done as I couldn't exactly ask to borrow these things from the museum. Personally, this plan is something that I've always wanted to do for years."
"Get to the point, Nate." Sully ushered him, becoming rather frustrated. "God damn it; every time you do something like this, we normally end up almost getting killed. And we've had WAY too many of those situations!"
"Don't worry, this one is rather simple." Nate assured him, giving off his usual confident grin. "Trust me; it's going to be easy."
"What the plan then?" Sully murmured.
"We're going to climb Mount Everest." Nate stated out with enthusiasm.