Sofia stares at the men before her, all prettied up in their special suits, vests, ties and bow-ties, a few older than her father… well older looking than her father did. Standing and sitting in the living room, a glass of scotch, whiskey, and whatever other names that sounded made up to her. The fire is lit, the lights are dim and the whole atmosphere looks like that of 'some old chaps about to have their cigars' as Jonah had put it.
She doesn't like them, not in the mansion, not in this room looking so dignified or disgusted, leaning against a book shelf she looks at Jonah who is dressed up, simpler like herself, and he sighs. She is wearing a knee length long dress, one inch straps and a small v-neck as she doesn't want to be showing off too much skin, showing off her curves and giving her elegance, setting off her hair which is in its usual do up. Jonah is in a nice dress shirt and suit jacket with slacks.
"Are you sure this will work?" Sofia whispers to Jonah and she glances at the five men standing before them.
"It has to, or it will be a much longer and difficult road," Jonah answers as he straightens his back and walks towards a younger man, around his own age. Tall, slim, dark hair combed back, wearing a high collar white shirt, dark blue stripped vest with a matching jacket and slacks, freshly shaved face and an award winning smile as he watches Jonah approach.
"I'm sorry about the delay, you know how Lara is," Jonah apologizes and the young man shakes his head with a smile.
"Not a worry, I've known Lara for a few years now, though she's mostly dealt with my father up until he chose to believe that she was becoming an attention hog," he smiles and sees a look on Jonah's face that reads 'don't talk about Lara like that'. He holds up his hands in surrender, "I don't see her that way, honest, I have heard about what she is doing with Discovery and for some of the people. If I'm not mistaken," he glances at Sofia. "She came with you from there, didn't she?"
Not having to look over his shoulder, he keeps his eyes on the young man, "yes, she did," he tries to sound a little more upbeat, but in the corner of his eye he's watching a short portly man. He's got a large white mustache, white horseshoe of hair, and has a skittish way about him. If he was able to look closer he'd see he's sweating.
The young man snaps his fingers, "I knew it! I know my father doesn't approve of my being here, or anything else to do with the Croft name. But I am confident that if I can hear the real story and what it is your planning next I'll push past him to get you some of the funding you need or all of it if I can."
Jonah noticed that when the fingers snapped the portly man jumped, he swallows and puts on a smile, "that would be greatly appreciated Mr. Montour."
9 hours ago…
Lara looks possibly giddy as Sofia turns in her dress, a dark green one, thin shoulder straps, matches her figure perfectly, with a low v neck but not too low and a light gloss and it fans out as she turns, "this looks really nice on you… but," pursing her lips she groans. "It isn't formal enough for tonight I'm afraid."
Smiling away, "this is vastly different from anything I had back at home… it's so soft and just slid on! What do you call this material?" Sofia looks up, "wait what?" having just caught onto the last part of what Lara said.
"I'm sorry, it isn't formal enough for the gathering of the gentlemen we're having come to the house tonight. But that doesn't mean I can't get it for you as a gift, it's similar to a summer dress just a little fancier. It's made of silk," Lara answers and Sofia's face brightened. "Do you want to have it as a gift?"
Nodding excitedly, never having really showed this side of herself before, "yes, I love it!" she frowns a little, "why is it that we need to have these rich guys come to the house tonight anyways?"
Lara frowns as Sofia goes to the nearby rack and pulls out a beautiful red dress and steps into the change room. Having already picked out her own dress, a midnight blue, form fitting that comes down to her own knees, it almost gives off a sparkle, straps but her neck is a rounded one that comes down a bit. Giving her a look of elegance and sophistication.
"For us to go out on this next adventure we need funds to be able to go out and do it, yes I have some money but I also worked a lot and got funds for my first adventure. Since then my name went down, thanks to some of my savings and Jonah we were able to go on our adventure to see you. However I feel this one will be different, I don't know how but I was pretty unprepared for what I ran into with the lost city and everything. Having you and Jonah with me means I need to be extra careful and make sure we're all well prepared. So I contacted some of my father's old friends and associates to ask them to hear me out and see if they'll fund us."
Sofia steps out with her hands up in a saucy pose which makes Lara blush, Sofia grins madly, "I like that look," and saunters up to Lara, circling her slowly, running her middle finger along her shoulders gently and she places a kiss onto her cheek. "Do we really need them?"
Looking down Lara nods, "I'm afraid so, if I were to do it myself I'd need to get myself a job and wait for months to have what we need, and there's no way I'm waiting that long. Sure there's a chance something will come out of the archeologists going to document the ruins near your home, but still, I want to be sure."
Using her index finger she lifts her chin and looks at her in the eye, before she knows it Sofia kisses her tenderly for a few seconds. Not caring whose watching or anyone is and pulls away slowly, "all will be fine," she smiles, "I'll put up with these puffed out chests and deep wallets if it means going out on an epic adventure with you," and Lara blinks at her using 'epic'. "What? Jonah taught me the word epic."
Giving a small sigh Lara presses her forehead to Sofia's, "I still have to do last minute work when we get back. I might be late on meeting everyone else for the 'party' but I'll try to be quick so you won't have to deal with them and then… we can enjoy the rest of the evening to ourselves."
…Up in the study Lara is still going over last minute details of how to sell the new adventure to the people downstairs. Not even in her dress yet, wearing a v neck grey shirt and jeans as her eyes go over the text on her screen.
"I'm missing something… what is the key to the argument?" Lara mumbles to herself and knits her eyebrows together in concentration. In hindsight she should have had it all prepared before arranging the meeting, but fretting over the facts and documents she'd uncovered she's afraid that it won't be enough and wants to be absolutely sure.
A figure comes in the window behind her, pulling out piano wire on two leather grip handles the figure moves up to her slowly.
Lara feels that someone is in the room, but assumes it is Sofia or Jonah, she sighs, "I know, I'm sorry… I should have planned this better, I'll be down there shortly to-" she sees the figure in her laptop screen, but doesn't have enough time to react as the wire is brought down around her neck. Cutting off her oxygen.
Reaching up she grabs his forearms while he pulls her back and then his wrists, kicking and pulling as she struggles to try and get free. Her eyes wide in fear and darting around trying to find anything she can use and finally she spots it, her tea cup. Yes it has been sitting for a couple of hours but Winston got her a warmer that plugs into the outlet to keep it a good temperature. Using her core muscles she pulls her legs up to get her feet onto the edge of the desk and pushes straight up.
The guy wasn't prepared for that and looses balance, taking a step back and then staggering forward, she manages to just barely catch the handle and whips the contents behind her nailing him in the face.
He releases his grip on the one handle and she falls to her knees gasping for air and coughing to try and get more oxygen in quickly. But her mind catches up quickly 'man in the house, have to subdue him!' she turns and watches him pull his hands away from his face and swing for her, she smashes the tea cup into the side of his head which makes him grimace and lose focus.
Downstairs Sofia has finally been approached by one of the older gentlemen, a tall, skinny man with thinning white hair, and a small mustache, spectacles on his long pointed nose and a black plaid vest and suit jacket combination. "How long have you known Miss. Croft?" he asks, looking down his nose at her, she gets a chill up her spine, wanting to put him into his place and threaten him for giving a snooty look. She wonders why he is even here as he clearly doesn't look to want to be there.
"I don't see how the duration I've known her for reflects on tonight," Sofia says in her most dignified voice she can muster.
He smirks a little at her answer, "oh I just want to be sure that those working with Miss. Croft are going to be as determined as her to get results, after all the team she hired for the last one abandoned her on the mountain."
Upstairs Lara gets tackled to the floor after the teacup hit him and she rolls with him on the floor, until she is on top and she throws a punch, but it is sloppy as he kneed her in the back. She doesn't hit him and he strikes her in the jaw, she falls over from the force of the hit but scrambles to stay on her feet.
Growling in frustration he gets back up and charges, she evades before grabbing a glass vase and swinging it back at him, but he'd already turned around and knocks it out of the air to deliver a front kick to her chest. She staggers back and hits the small wooden stand that the vase was on, but she recovers quickly and as he moves in to grab she evades by crouching and thrusting her fist up and catching him in the chin.
Staggering back, Lara moves in but is unprepared for the back hand that sends her crashing onto the floor.
Downstairs Sofia looks at Jonah who makes eye contact and glances upstairs. She takes a deep breath, "I'm going to check on Lara," feeling grateful for the escape and starts up the stairs.
The man pulls out a dagger and just as Lara rolls onto her back he brings it down for her chest, but she catches his wrists. He shifts his feet around to being directly over her and grits his teeth. Lara focuses on pushing away but he puts his weight onto the dagger and it starts to move up to rest directly above her throat, her hands and quickly her arms shaking.
Grunting and whimpering, Lara looks at his face that has the cold tea drying and a scared but determined look in his eyes. Her chest is heaving and her arms are trembling, the tip of the dagger just a hair strand away, the door opens.
"Lara these," Sofia's eyes widen at the sight ahead of her, but her brief second of shock is quickly changed to anger. Her stepping in distracted him long enough for Lara to move the dagger to the floor next to her and he looks back at Lara to get her right elbow to his temple and then a kick to the gut from Sofia making him roll onto his back next to Lara.
Wasting no time Sofia straddles him, right knee down and left knee bent to punch him a few times in the face while Lara slowly picks herself up, "easy Sofia," Lara breaths and touches her neck to be sure there's no blood.
Sofia stops punching and grabs him by the collar of his black turtleneck, "who sent you? Trinity?" she demands in his face.
He shakes his head, sporting a bleeding lip and a broken nose thanks to Sofia, "I'm not telling you anything!" he spits and Sofia punches him square in the chin. Knocking him out and letting go of his shirt to watch him drop.
Lara takes a seat in a wooden chair and rubs her face, "attacked in my house again… is this my new normal?" she asks herself while Sofia grabs up the charging cord for the laptop, rolls him to his stomach and ties his wrists and ankles together. Going to Lara she kneels down before her and looks up at her.
"Are you okay?" Sofia touches her cheek and sees where she's been hit twice, wishing she'd been up in the room with her the whole time.
"Yeah, not my first rodeo, I got lucky that time as Jonah came back after an argument with me. He found the man at that time strangling me and… I was about to slip away from lack of oxygen then. Thank you for coming to my aid… again," Lara smiles at the last bit and Sofia gives her a sad smile. "There's nothing you could have done, I asked you and Jonah to go down there ahead of me…" she purses her lips in thought.
Lara looks at Sofia, "I never broadcast about this recent adventure we want to take, so the question is," she looks at the unconscious man on the floor. "Whose his employer?" looking back at Sofia her eyes widen, "it has to be someone I invited, either one of them leaked it or one of them has to be behind it." With a fire in her eyes Lara stands up with Sofia and they hurry down the stairs.
Once in the room the men are startled by her not being dressed up for the occasion, her eyes scan every face, every position and demeanor, "Jonah, please go up to my study to watch over the man who just tried to kill me," Lara instructs and the men look at one another stunned. Except for the portly one, who looks irritated and scared at the same time.
Jonah would have stopped to ask Lara if she was alright, but he also doesn't want to let the creep have a chance of escaping and hurries up to the study for guard duty.
Mr. Montour hurries over but keeps his distance as he knows it's a serious time, "I swear to you Lara, I hold nothing but respect for you," and she holds her hand up to stop him. Then glances at everyone else and Sofia folds her arms across her chest.
"This is absurd! Why would any of us wish to put you to harm?" the tall and slender man from earlier asks incredulously.
Watching him closely, Sofia is ready to knock him on his ass, though she knows Lara won't allow it. Lara smiles at him, "well someone here must believe that I am onto something. That someone," she starts to eye each man there until the portly one starts to get fidgety. Mr. Santfur. "Wants my knowledge of what I have learned so they can fund their own expedition and find it for himself," she watches his eyes look up at her and he scowls at her.
"Don't you give me that look! Your father respected me and I respected him! Don't go pointing fingers!" Mr. Santfur almost shouts which alarms everyone else in the room.
Lara stands before him, not flinching and looks at him with disgust, "you're a liar," and he blinks while everyone is staring at him. "I remember that you specifically said to the paper that you were good chums with my father, but that his recent research was only going to drain his wallet and… how did you put it?" she looks at him inquisitively but he glares instead. "That you now only saw a mad fool who lost your respect the moment he started looking into impossible things and became obsessed with them."
Mr. Santfur steps up to her and Sofia moves right behind Lara with Mr. Montour, "then why did you invite me here?" his voice deep with anger.
Knitting her eye brows together, "my recent findings on something impossible turned up incredible things, I had been hoping you would turn over a leaf, that you'd regretted what you did with my father. Maybe you would see he wasn't crazy after all and want to make it up… but now I see I held my hopes far too high, the greed in your heart is beyond my own imagination. I just cannot believe you'd stoop so low as to try and have me killed."
His mood changing dramatically, a smirk forming, "you have no proof of this, now before you continue to waste my time any further, I will be going."
Mr. Montour steps forward, "I shall escort you out," he looks at Lara and tries to give a reassuring smile.
Lying on her back on her bed, Lara groans while resting her right forearm onto her forehead, "well that was an exciting evening," she groans and Sofia moves onto the other side of the bed and sets herself next to her. Using her right elbow to prop her head up as she looks at Lara with worry.
"Are you going to be okay? I know that you are strong, that you've dealt with a lot of stuff out there but here… with people who you're supposed to trust attacking you?" Sofia asks and Lara lowers her arm.
"My new normal, you uncover something of great value and finally prove that what it is your researching could actually be real paints a large target on your back. People with money, possibly others like Trinity will do anything to get their hands on it if it means immortality, gold, it all adds up to greed. The trick for me is to find it before they do just like the Divine Source," Lara says and Sofia closes her eyes for a moment.
Collecting her thoughts, having seen Lara come in to save her beneath the tower during the first big fight with Trinity, making quick work and showing what she is capable of. She smiles a little and blushes at the memory of it all, the scuffs, scrapes, bruises and cuts with the dirt all leaving their mark on Lara when she came to help her. It showed her that she wasn't afraid of any challenge that awaited her; she'd take on the enemies to learn more, advance more and get closer to her goal. Putting her body and head through hell and persevering, all of this adding up gives her a warm feeling in her stomach.
Opening her eyes she looks at Lara again and even with all of the elements gone, cleaned up aside from a couple new bruises forming, she feels drawn to her just like back in the tent when tending to her back. "I care about you a lot Lara, no matter how many times or how hard you fall, you always get back up and push even harder. I admire you greatly and I won't deny how much I want you right now," she watches Lara's cheeks go rosy. "At the same time, I feel you also need your rest," leaning down she gives her a kiss.
Returning the kiss, Lara holds the back of her head to keep her just a few seconds longer, savouring the feel of her lips against her own, the braids and strands of hair framing her face and tickling ever so slightly, and the warmth she brings to her face. Finally she lets go of the back of her head and Sofia pulls away slowly.
"Good night Lara Croft."
Please review! I want to know what you think of the direction I'm putting it into, though I won't deny I'm considering a pretty dark chapter to follow. What did you enjoy the most? What would you like to see more of?