Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lara Croft, Sam Nishimura, or Lord Richard Croft.
When Lara reached 'Hop Up', the skydiving place she had set out for 25 minutes prior, there were two other cars in the car park. Lara wondered if she had come too early, but she got out of her car and approached the building anyway. The small building was a semicircle in shape and Lara was on the flat side where the main entrance was. The door was made of glass so she could see that there were lights on inside, suggesting the place was open. However to Lara's disappointment she found the door to be locked after giving it a vigorous tug. She decided not to give up there. If Cow Blood had wanted her here, surely there must be a note somewhere. Lara looked up and down the building's front. The whole building was a very light blue colour with the plastic 'Hop Up' signs nailed across the top. They were made with bumpy edges to give the appearance of clouds in a sky. Lara shielded her eyes and looked up at them, but there seemed to be nothing to suggest there would be a note up there. She sighed and checked she hadn't missed anything on the door before walking round to the circular side of the building. Most of this side had shutters covering it so Lara inspected the graffiti on them carefully; she stopped for a closer look whenever she saw any red spray paint. On reaching the peak of the circle, Lara heard someone whistling and a jangle of keys, followed by a loud grinding sound. She followed the circle round to find a tall man lifting the shutters. He was wearing dark brown cargo trousers and a tight, black v-neck. He had a bunch of keys dangling from his belt and a pencil behind his ear.
"Hi there," Lara said, approaching the man.
"Hey. Can I help you?" he said, turning to face Lara and smiling politely. She noticed a name tag hanging from his belt. Marcus.
"I hope so. I need to..." Lara suddenly realised how stupid she was going to sound. "I need to jump out of a plane. ASAP."
"Right," Marcus replied, opening another shutter. It revealed a parachute and a skydiving suit on a mannequin. Lara supposed that was the company's shop.
"So can you help me?" she asked him.
"Nope. I'm just a caretaker. But if you hang on a moment while I put up the shutters, I'll take you inside to the office. The woman who runs the place works in there, she can help you."
Lara nodded and walked round slowly with Marcus as he opened the place up. She managed to keep a sufficient amount of small talk going until they reached the front door. Marcus unlocked it and let her in, taking her through the shop, behind the front desk and through another door behind it. This door didn't need a key and Marcus walked in without knocking. Inside it was very pokey and untidy. There was a desk in the middle of the room, facing Lara's east. There were papers scattered across it as well as an old laptop sat in the middle, whirring loudly. Two six foot, wooden shelves stood to the left of the desk. They were also stacked untidily with books, papers and leaver-arch files. The only other pieces of furniture were two chairs, one sat either side of the desk. One of them was occupied.
"Hey, Anna. Someone here wants to skydive," Marcus said, scratching his elbow. Lara thought he looked rather uncomfortable.
"You know, we're not actually open yet," the manager said, not unpleasantly. She had a smile on her face as she took her glasses off to look up at Lara.
"I know," replied Marcus. "But she seems kinda desperate."
"Is this true? Are you desperate?" she asked Lara.
"Well... yes I suppose I am."
"Thanks Marcus," Anna said to dismiss him. She waited for him to leave before gesturing for Lara to sit.
"My name is Anna. I'm the manager here at Hop Up."
"I'm Lara. Listen, I hate to be rude but I am in rather a hurry so I'm going to cut to the chase. Is there any possibility that I'll be able to skydive today?" Lara asked as she sat down.
"Usually there wouldn't be. But you have come early so we'll see whether there's anything available this afternoon. There will be paperwork you need to fill in before then, should there be a free space," Anna replied.
"Of course," Lara nodded. "I'm willing to pay extra, money isn't a problem. I just need to skydive."
She hated to use her late father's money as a means of getting her way in the world, but sometimes it had to be done. It came in helpful to Lara in situations such as these and she didn't know what she would do without it. Her heritage made her a rich and powerful young woman, but she was a professional in modesty. She did what she could to earn and use her own money. Her father's money stayed in a separate bank account until times like these came along which, in Lara's defence, wasn't very often.
Anna smiled at Lara and cast her a look which suggested the money would be welcomed into the company, but instead of answering, she reached up onto a shelf behind her and took down a large, red, leather-bound book. She opened it up to where a bookmark stuck out, then turned another page and studied it.
"The only slot that hasn't been taken today is one at 2:30pm, but the man who usually does this jump is having the day off. That's why the slot hasn't been booked. I'm sorry, Lara, I don't think-"
"Wait, wait," Lara said, sitting forward in her chair. "Call him. I'll make him an offer and see how much he wants. If I pay him he might come in."
"I don't know," Anna murmured. "He's having the day off for his father's birthday."
"Please. Please try," Lara begged, looking at Anna with as much innocence as she could.
Anna sighed. "Okay. But I doubt it'll work."
"Thank you so much. You won't regret it," Lara smiled, breathing a sigh of relief.
Anna took her phone out from her bag and called the diver, explaining the situation with him. Before long, Anna was shaking her head at Lara, still listening through the phone.
"Let me speak to him!" Lara urged, putting her hand out to take the mobile.
"Quentin, Lara would like to speak with you," Anna murmured before passing the phone over.
"Quentin, is it? Listen, I know you're busy but this is pretty much an emergency. I can pay you extra, don't worry," Lara babbled.
"It's my father's birthday, I can't just leave him. Do you know how much a skydive with an instructor costs?" Quentin replied down the phone. Lara was expecting him to sound pissed off, but on the contrary he sound amused.
"Honestly, no," she muttered.
"It's $360. I really don't think you could pay extra," Quentin said smartly.
"$360?! What is that, like £230?! Wow okay..." Lara breathed. "I can pay extra, actually. I can double it, triple it even. You name it, I'll pay it. I just need to do this today."
There was a pause. "Are you serious? Triple?"
"Deadly serious."
"Times it by 4.5 and you've got a deal," Quentin murmured. He took less persuading than Lara had expected.
"100% deal. The jump is at 2:30, don't be late. Bring your dad along for the ride," Lara smiled, relaxing.
"Very funny. You got lucky. I'll seeya later."
The phone went dead so Lara handed it back over to Anna.
"Done. He's going to be here for the session. Now where's that paperwork you were talking about?"
Anna looked startled, but she gave the paperwork to Lara anyway. Lara had to fill out her personal details and health status, giggling at the irony of Sam being her next of kin. She denied her diagnosed anxiety or panic attacks, deciding it would be better not to highlight anything that could ruin her chances of getting to do the jump so soon. She answered 'N/A' to pretty much all of the health and wellbeing questions in order to speed up the process, despite the fact her jump wasn't for a few hours.
"Thank you, Miss... Croft," Anna said, taking the paperwork and checking the front for Lara's surname.
She raised her eyebrows as she read Lara's title.
"You're Lady Lara Croft, I see. You must come from a very privileged background."
Lara thought back to her early childhood at Croft Manor and her peers making fun of her posh accent at school. Her background certainly was much different to those of the people she had grown up with.
"Privileged. I suppose you could call it that, yes," Lara murmured, blushing. She was starting to feel much more guilty and embarrassed about using the money.
"You shouldn't be embarrassed. We can't help our heritage. Besides, you don't strike me as someone who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth," Anna smiled as she looked over the papers.
Lara laughed. "Unfortunately I was, though I try my best to do what I can for myself. Yet at times like this I use my father's money. I'm not proud of it, but this is something I need to do. For a friend."
"Well everyone needs a helping hand from time to time. You're very lucky to have such easy access to yours."
Lara smiled, glad that Anna understood how she felt about this.
Anna put the papers down, taking her glasses off again to look at Lara.
"I must impress upon you the importance of these papers, Lady C-"
"Please, stick with Lara," Lara said, suddenly irritated with the change of address.
"Lara, I trust that you have filled them in correctly and honestly. I know you're desperate to go up there today, but if these papers are incorrect you could be put in a very dangerous situation," Anna explained, looking sternly at Lara.
"Oh believe me, I've been put through a few of those in my time."
Anna blinked.
"But don't worry, everything in there is legit," Lara lied with a reassuring smile.
"I should hope so," said Anna, sighing. "Now, you need to have a short training session just in the case there's an emergency when you're up in the air. There's a family coming to do a group dive for a girl's sweet sixteen. You can tag along with their training session at 1:30pm. It should only take around ten minutes. Until then, you don't have anything else to do. You can either stick around here or go home."
Lara thought about it. "I'll go home for a while. I have some work to do."
She got up and made her way to the door.
"Lara," Anna said, stopping her in her tracks.
"Yes?"
"If I may ask, why are you so desperate to go skydiving today?"
"I-" Lara started, looking at her boots. "It's a very long story. And I honestly don't think you would believe me if I told you."
"Perhaps not. You can tell me anyway."
Lara smiled and realised she didn't completely understand why she needed to skydive. She knew that's what she had to do, but she didn't exactly know why.
"I suppose I'm looking for some sort of message," Lara murmured, thinking out loud rather than telling Anna. "I think there's something I'm supposed to see from the sky. A sign or an image of some sort. "
Anna raised her eyebrows. "What gives you that idea?"
"Again, it's a long story. But my friend could be in danger and I need to do this for her as soon as possible."
"If your friend is in danger, why don't you just call the cops?"
"It's complicated. It has to be me that finds her and saves her," Lara said. She didn't want to give away too much, yet she felt she could trust Anna enough to let a little bit slip.
Anna suddenly looked serious. "You could be putting yourself in danger if there are people who are playing games with you. You shouldn't put yourself in danger just for a friend. She wouldn't want you to."
"She's my girlfriend. And I love her. I would do anything for her, dangerous or not. She knows that, so she'll be expecting me to find her. I honestly don't care that I could get hurt or injured or put in hospital or even arrested, because it would be worth it for her. If I stare death in the face and manage to avoid it, it won't matter to me. It won't be counted as a success unless Sam is saved. She means everything to me. And so does this skydive. I need it. I need her. Do you understand?"
Anna didn't answer.
Lara shrugged and left.
On leaving Anna's office, Lara had a quick but thorough scour round the shop area in case there was a note there for her. She hadn't intended to come across as rude or ungrateful in her short speech, she simply wanted to get across her point. Anna had asked and Lara had answered. It was as simple as that.
When Lara was sure there was no note left for her, she left the building and got into her car. She had been doubtful of the note anyway- she had never had to look for a note, they were always strategically placed where she would run into them. Obviously Cow Blood wanted to be sure that she would go through with the skydive. His clues were precious and he wasn't going to give them away carelessly. The game had moved onto a new level and Lara was going to have to work for these clues.
Lara still didn't want to go home, but she didn't see any point in waiting around for a few hours until her training session. She drove slowly, taking longer routes to pass a bit of time. When she did finally arrive home, she was momentarily surprised to find Sam's car by her house before she remembered it had been there since they went to Dale Meadows on Tuesday.
Inside her house, Lara found no more notes, a situation she felt rather ambivalent about. On the one hand, it meant Cow Blood and his gang hadn't invaded her space again, but on the other hand, she had no more clues about what she would be looking out for on the skydive. Still, Lara had the dive booked. All she had to do was turn up and jump. Easy.