Chapter 6: Precarious Allies
At the Croft mansion Winston was nervously pacing. He had not heard from Lara ever since she had told him that she was going to Cairo. It was not unusual, but his encounter with the doppelganger set his nerves on edge. The last thing he wanted was for something to happen to her.
The satellite phone rang.
"Ms. Croft," he said to himself as her hustled to Lara's office.
It was not Lara, but a man dressed as a doctor. Winston's first thought was that Lara had been hurt.
"I'm trying to contact a Ms. Lara Croft," the doctor said.
"I'm sorry, but she is not here," Winston replied. "I could take a message."
"Tell Ms. Croft that a Jacqueline Natla has awakened from of coma and wants to speak with her."
For a long moment Winston stared at the screen.
"Are you okay?" the doctor asked.
Jacqueline Natla had remained conscious for only a short time after awakening. She had been brought out by a surge of familiar power. Even though she was now human, she had felt it. Jacqueline had slipped away for a few hours until she awoke again on her own. Lying in the hospital bed she realized that she was now completely human. Nobody had to tell her that, she just knew.
During her time of unconsciousness Jacqueline had seen flashes of her final battle with Lara Croft. Now that she was awake, she thought about it, and about how the event had led to this. She had the right to be burning mad at Lara for taking her powers from her, but the anger had not surfaced, at least not yet.
The thing that puzzled her was the power surge that had initially brought her out of the coma. She had not felt that type of power in eons.
In her current situation Lara needed to have some power to help her. She had landed on hard metal and had no idea where she was until the lights came on. She was in an all metal room that had a single open door that led out.
'So much for a trap,' Lara thought. Either the trap was well hidden, or Sophia did not know what was down here. She did not even know the meaning of the word protégé. When Lara walked toward the opening, the door slammed shut and the floor began to slide back. Underneath the floor was a pool of molten rock.
A quick look around the room told Lara that there were no other ways out. She tried to pull the door open while staying on her feet with the floor sliding, but the door was not going to open by hand. She could feel the immense heat on her back.
Lara turned around to the widening hole. Hugging her body to the wall, the end of the floor too quickly slid toward the wall. For the first time in her adult life she felt that she was not going to make it out of this one. Lara looked around in a panic.
"Help me!" Lara cried out. The heat from the molten rock began burning her exposed legs. She desperately banged on the walls, and-
The sliding floor lurched to a stop, and the door opened. Lara stared at the molten rock as the floor began to slide toward the middle of the room. After getting a hold on her senses, Lara exited the room.
For a minute Lara stood still. She had almost bought the farm this time, but why did the trap stop? Standing there she was aware that there were sounds, but it took a moment for her to realize what it was. The sounds were that of gunfire.
Lara pulled out her pistols and ran down the hall. At the end she encountered a firefight. What appeared to be Egyptian police were exchanging fire with Sophia who was in a corner behind some heavy equipment.
Lara looked around for a brief moment when she saw her doppelganger standing in one of the corners out of harm's way.
'You're not going to get away from death that easily,' Lara thought. Skirting the room around the firefight Lara made her way over to where the demonic thing was standing. Lara was getting near to the doppelganger when she saw that the Eye of Isis artifact was on a pedestal close to it. Was the thing going to take it from Sophia during the melee?
Lara knew that she could not stop the thing. Shooting it would only get her killed. Her emotions were running high after nearly dying, and she had been bent on some kind of revenge. But her nerves had calmed down.
Suddenly Lara heard one of the policemen cry out. She turned to see one of the men pointing his weapon at the doppelganger. The doppelganger quickly went back into the shadows, but not before the policeman got off a shot.
A sudden pain went through Lara's arm, and she looked down at a wound that had just appeared. Holding her hand over the wound she glanced at the doppelganger which was holding its arm in the same way. Lara knew that she had to kill the policeman to protect herself.
Lara fired two shots and the policeman went down. Two of the other police turned as Lara ran toward her doppelganger. Why was this happening like this? The shot should have injured the policeman.
The two police officers who had turned fired at Lara. One of the bullets gave her leg a flesh wound, and both she and the doppelganger staggered. Lara got in front of the doppelganger and pointed both of her pistols at the approaching police. The doppelganger was pointing its fists in the opposite directions. It was then that Lara noticed that the Eye of Isis was softly glowing. It seemed that the artifact was making things a little different. To protect herself she had to protect her doppelganger while they were near it. The doppelganger was her protégé after all.
Lara and the doppelganger were around a corner, Lara exchanging fire with the Egyptian police. She then watched as one of the officers went to a better position for taking her out.
Suddenly Lara heard a loud crashing sound behind her, and then she was suddenly pulled backward and down into a hole in the floor. The doppelganger was dragging her as it quickly moved through the darkness, the sound of the firefight quickly dying. She then knew; the doppelganger had stopped the death trap.
At the Croft mansion Winston was pacing next to the satellite phone. He felt completely helpless because it had been longer than usual for Lara to check in on him and give an update on her progress. All that he could do was wait.
When the phone sounded Winston let out a sigh of relief.
On the viewer was Alex West.
"Mr. West," Winston replied. "I was hoping it was Lara."
"She isn't there?" Alex responded. "I need to talk to her."
"Lara has gone to Egypt for the Eye of Isis. She hasn't check in yet and I am getting worried," Winston said.
"Stay by the phone," Alex said to Winston. "I'm going after her. We are all in way over our heads this time."
Alex West and Zip were in a hotel room, where a portable satellite phone was set up on a table. Alex keyed the phone off.
Zip was setting by an open case containing the Infada.
"What are we doing with this?" Zip asked.
"We're keeping it," Alex replied. "At least until I get some answers."
While being dragged through the dark Lara had been knocked unconscious. She immediately guessed that she had hit her head, because when she came to her head hurt tremendously. She was in a small cave that was at the edge of the desert.
Blinking and holding her head Lara emerged onto the sand. It took a while to figure out where she was. Not far from the cave was a road that went to Cairo. The bad thing was this road was not used that much and it took a while for any vehicle to come along. Finally one did.
"We have been looking for you, Ms. Croft," the driver said as he drove.
"We?" Lara asked.
"I am with the British Embassy in Cairo," the man said. "Somebody wishes to speak with you."
"Is it Alex West?" Lara asked the driver.
"Alex is here in Egypt looking for you; has been for the last couple of hours. It was not he who wants to speak to you, but a Miss Jacqueline Natla.
Lara looked at the driver and then out of the side window. Maybe now she could get some answers. If anyone would know if there was a fourth scion she would.
Lara met up with Alex and together they went to Turkey to try and get some answers as to what all was happening and why. Natla was now out of the coma, but the doctors did not think that having visitors this early afterward was a good idea.
"I told her that she needed to rest more," one of the doctors told Lara and Alex, "but she was adamant."
Lara and Alex were led to Natla's room where she appeared to be looking out of a window.
"You two have ten minutes," the doctor stated.
Natla turned her head when Lara and Alex entered. She actually did not want Alex there, but did not say anything.
"Lara," Natla said softly. Both Lara and Alex sat on chairs. For a long and awkward moment Lara and Jacqueline looked at each other. Even Alex could feel the tension.
"You wanted to speak with me?" Lara finally broke the silence.
Natla nodded. "I was brought out of a coma by a power. I have not felt it in a long time."
"Power," Lara replied. "What kind of power is it? The scions and the other artifacts emitted it."
"Other artifacts," Natla responded. This was a statement not a question.
"Natla," Lara said, "somebody wants the Ora Dagger, the Eye of Isis, the-"
"Infada," Natla softly interrupted. Natla closed her eyes. "So much power was placed in it."
"Ms. Natla," Alex said, "we need to locate the Element 115 artifact. We don't know who wants all of these artifacts or why, but it can't be for something good."
Natla looked at Alex. "You don't even know what element 115 is, do you?"
Even though Natla's tone was soft, Alex did not like the way that she asked it. However, he still wanted answers.
"Okay," Alex replied. "Indulge us."
"Element 115 was found to have fifty times more power than high grade Plutonium," Natla said. "In its pure form, a one inch cube of it would have five times the power than an atomic bomb."
Lara and Alex glanced at each other. Lara asked where the artifact was, and the now human Natla did not know. Both she and Alex noticed the doctor standing outside the room.
"Natla," Lara said, "after the power surge the scions had changed. And it also seems that they now piece together; along with another. Is there a fourth scion?"
Natla appeared to be sleeping and the doctor entered.
"It is time for you two to leave," the doctor told Lara and Alex. "She needs her rest."
Both Lara and Alex stood and began to walk to the door.
"Lara," Natla said softly, and Lara walked up to the bed.
"There is a fourth scion. The four scions are as they were intended."
Lara nodded, but not understanding what Natla meant.
"Where is the fourth one?" Lara asked.
"Element 115," Natla replied, obviously becoming less lucid. "The fourth scion is where you left element-"
Natla was unconscious. Lara and Alex left the hospital room.
"The fourth scion is where you left, what?" Alex asked.
"Element," Lara replied. "Element 115. But I left the artifact at the cavern with the…meteorite."