Alex looked around the room; no-one was to be found. He was about to get up and look around when he heard Hillary shouting.
"Alex! Get Lara out of here, NOW!" Alex sprang to action immediately, he grabbed Lara's arm and whisked her up the stairs of the manor and into her bedroom. He immediately slammed the door behind them and locked it tight. He then walked over to the stained glass window and opened it.
Lara sat down on the floor. Her world had become dangerous and at the heart of it all – her family. She began to weep. She had put her family in danger all of her life, but now more than ever. She wondered whether after all this she should leave. Leave her life of danger and start afresh.
Alex was about to step onto the balcony when he realized that Lara wasn't behind him anymore. His thoughts were that the intruders had got to her, 'whoever they are' he thought. He pulled out his sidearm and advanced forward. Just around the corner he saw Lara, crouched on the floor in fetal position, rocking backward and forwards. As he slowly walked up to her he put his gun away, and crouched down next to her. He gently placed an arm around her shoulders.
"Lara" Alex said sympathetically. "They're gonna be fine and so will you" he gave her a weak smile. He looked into her deep crystal blue eyes and all he saw was sadness.
"I can't live my life putting my family in danger" she said, gesturing to the photograph on the dresser. The photograph had been taken last year on Lara's twenty-second birthday; it was Lara, Hillary and Bryce after going on a ski trip.
"Lara, you don't put them in danger. You are what keeps them going" Alex said, trying to lift Lara's spirits. He then tried to get her up so they could scale the outside wall but she refused. She told him to go on without her, to go and get help. He knew this was another bad decision to add to the collection – he left her.
Around ten minutes after Alex left, Lara heard a slight knocking at her door. She went to her bedroom closet. She kept a shotgun and ammo in there with her shorts and vest-tops. She took it out, minding her leg as she stood up. She went up to the door and slowly opened it; she brandished her gun whilst she opened the door and there, in the open doorway stood an unharmed Hillary.
He rushed into the room and firmly closed the door behind him.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
That was the sounds that filled Croft Manor. That and Bryce shouting at his laptop shouting at it saying 'Why?'.This would be because the Manors security defence system was down and the manor was under attack.
"You should go and help Bryce" Lara said, feeling guilty that she couldn't help him herself.
"No, I promised your father I would protect you, so that is what I'm doing" Hillary said, making sure that Lara's bedroom door was locked.
"I'm fine" Lara said, clearly agitated that he was putting up a fight "I'm sure Bryce will need your help with the intruders when the systems back online anyway"
"Lara, I don't know whether you know this but you have a broken leg and a sprained wrist, Therefore making you more of a target" Hillary replied, he began to think about how he was going to get Lara out of the house, unharmed.
Lara tried to get out of the bed; the bed Hillary had 'so kindly' placed her onto the moment after the doctor had said 'Broken leg'. "Aggghhhhh" she winced as soon as she tried to move her foot.
"Lara are you alright?" Hillary asked worried as soon as she had winced. He knew it was his duty to protect his charge. His charge being Lady Lara Croft.
That's when the door to Lara's room swung open and a gun shot was heard...
It was Alex; he had come back prepared for combat with shotguns, rifles and Lara's pistols. He handed Lara her pistols and gave Hillary a shotgun.
"Are we ready?" Alex asked, after assembling Lara and Hillary into battle positions; they made their way down the left staircase. Alex began to shoot a few of the intruders whilst Hillary took Lara outside, and into her newly polished car. They waited for Alex and Bryce who had set up a mini-explosion smoke bomb that would ensure the evacuation of the intruders.
The one thing they didn't know was that someone was watching them...
