Falling Behind

AN: I'm sorry (again) for the late update. I've been worrying about this thing, and when I decide what I'm going to do about it, two more things come up. But at least I've updated now.

Hugs to ExtremeRainbowRaiderPrincess for the lovely review!

Thanks!

Here's chapter 14.

Lara glared at Rutland and Becky as the guards searched her. They should have been quieter. If they had, they still may have gotten out of there without a fight. Well, without a huge one anyway. "One, two and three. Thank-you Miss Croft. Shame you won't be around to see the end result." Rutland traced his fingers over the keys, taking in the swirls of patterns that covered them.

"You won't get very far without us." she growled as a guard removed the small blade she was carrying in her boot. They had already taken her pistols, Kurtis' Boran X and his chirugai. But most guards were always stupid enough to mistake that small switch-blade in her bra clip as the actual clip itself. That was the only weapon that had remained on her person during the search.

"I disagree. It's Mr Trent we need, you are of no further use to us." He had finally managed to fit the pieces of the keys together into a perfectly shaped rose as he finished his sentence. The room flashed white and then everyone found themselves floating around mountain landscapes, in an out-of-body state, similar to the one of which Lara had been in, in Egypt.

She instantly recognised the countryside as a group of mountains in Paris. When she was younger, Lara had visited there on a short break with her father, only a couple of months after her mother's disappearance. The memories of small pic-nics and walks up the mountainside calmed her for a moment. The feeling was soon swept away when she remembered why she was looking at the spots that had brought so many happy memories back to her. What she had always did best. Business.

She felt the sensation of the skull pulling her towards it. Her mind was forced up the hillside until the group came up to a rockier part of the mountain. In the centre of two boulders was an arched opening, leading into a dark cave. They travelled threw numerous stone hallways, most inscribed with what Lara assumed were Lux Veritatis glyphs.

They came to a round room which showed two pathways leading left and right. Not moving any further, there was a quick flash of a light pink skull, before they returned to their bodies.

Gasping for breath, Kurtis staggered backwards before lunging forward to collect the key from Rutland while he wasn't fully concious. His fingers brushed over the edge of the key before a mercenary to his left hit him on the head, making him fall to his knees. A second mercenary came beside him and held him by the shoulders to keep him still.

"Watch it, Trent. Or we might take a little sample of your blood instead of you. Have both loose ends tied at the same time." Becky rubbed her head, letting the fuzziness clear from her eyes. Kurtis had quickly recovered from their travelling-mind experience, having been able to use his farsee ability often. Although, he had never been able to travel as far as they did; from Prague to Paris in a matter of seconds. Even being physic had it's restrictions.

"Why exactly do you need him?" Lara asked. Maybe playing dumb would buy them sometime. Now the only question was: buy time for what? It's not as if they could escape without getting a serious injury; They were by far outnumbered. They already had all the information they needed. If she could distract them from Kurtis, then maybe he could do something to get them out of that place.

"Don't act stupid, Croft"

"I'm not"

"Well then, in order to not waste more time having to look at your face, let me put it long story short: We're going to kill you, take your boyfriend, use him to get the skull and then kill him."

"See, I don't really like your plan. Maybe we can change it to something that suits me more. Let me think. We kill you, Rutland and your pretty little guards, get the skull and destroy it. Yep, definitely like my plan better."

"Ha ha. You're very funny. Not very famous last words, though." One mercenary handed Becky a gun and she aimed it at Lara's head, directly between her eyes. "You've got a pretty good grip on that gun for someone with sausage's for fingers." Lara crossed her arms over her chest, not even showing a hint of fear at the woman pointing a gun at her head.

Looking over at Kurtis, she could see that he was about to make a move on his restraining guards: his fists were clenched and he had managed to get into a position where the guards' grips were more slackened around his arms, while they were paying attention to the situation with Lara and Becky.

Using a mental surge of energy to send both guards flying to the floor, Kurtis quickly got to his feet and grabbed his Boran X and aimed at Becky, "Drop the gun." after he spoke, he twitched his fingers and the chirugai hummed to life, and he guided it towards Rutland. Automatically, all the mercenaries in the room aimed their guns at him, but he didn't react, only picked Lara's pistols up, throwing the to her. She pointed one at Becky and the other at the lead mercenarie. Almost everyone had a gun pointing at them. "There's no easy way out of this so I suggest you let us go before we all end up dead." Kurtis tried to reason. He knew it wasn't going to work, but it was worth a shot.

"Fat chance." Becky said, her grip not slacking on the gun.

"If you open fire, none of us will survive this."

"you're outnumbered. One way or another, you will die."

"I've had enough of these games." Lara said while firing both guns. One bullet hit Becky in the shoulder while the other pierced the back of the mercenaries neck. Kurtis lowered his gun and bolted out of the room, with Lara behind him. He summoned his chirugai to him and clipped it loosely to his belt. Bullets whizzed past his ear and one embedded itself in his shoulder. He groaned but ignored the pain as he focused on his running.

They took a right and came to a dead end, and Lara could hear the footsteps of the guards chasing them. She looked around frantically but there was no where to go but back. So much for escaping, she thought. There wasn't even a vent above them or a window. They would have to surrender. "Don't move" she heard a mercenary say from behind them. She sighed and turned around with her arms in the air.

Without words, a guard from the crowd came and tied their hands behind their backs after removing their guns and the chirugai. They then guided them back threw the hall to where Rutland was waiting. "Not the most brilliant escape plan." he nodded his head and turned away and walked down the corridor as a guard knocked both Lara and Kurtis unconscious.

Xx

Kurtis awoke when he was violently shook by the van he was in crossing over a series of speed bumps on the road. He felt a throbbing pain in his shoulder and looked down to see blood soaking threw his t-shirt. Then he remembered being shot. Yes, the main reason for a bullet hole in someone's shoulder he thought sarcastically.

He looked over at Lara, who was awake and staring out of the window. He couldn't tell where they were, but he guessed it was on the road to France. "How long you been awake?" he startled her, but she answered without turning away from the window, "Not long. We must've been hit pretty hard. They're asleep." she nodded forward to three guards in the seats in front of them who had their heads hung and were making slight snoring noises. "Any escape plan?" he asked her.

"I think it's best I don't decide. My last plan didn't go so well."

"I got nothing." he sighed and leant his head back against the headrest of his seat.

Lara suddenly remembered the blade in her bra. "Un-clip my bra." she turned her back to him. Kurtis just stared at her, "Lara, no offence, but this isn't really the time."

"There's a blade in there. As disappointed as I am." she rolled her eyes as Kurtis turned around so they were back to back and reached his hands up Lara's tank top to un-clip her bra. After fiddling about, he finally un-hooked it and the switch-blade fell from Lara's back. She turned around and picked it up with her teeth. "Here." she said as Kurtis took it off her. He began to saw at the ropes binding Lara's hand. A guard in front of them shuffled and he froze, but continued when Lara gave him the all-clear.

Once her hands were free, she took the knife off of Kurtis, and untied his wrists. "What now? The van's still moving." Kurtis asked.

"We're coming up to a bridge. They'll probably have to stop to pay." Lara rubbed her wrists. They had been grazed by the rope being tied so tightly.

The van came to a stop a few minuets later and the driver and man in the passenger seat got out to pay the toll-booth. Lara took this as her chance and, making sure the guards in front of them were still asleep, opened the door and silently closed it while Kurtis remained in the back seat. She made her way to the back and opened the boot, while checking no one was looking. She smiled happily to herself when she saw weapons there, what she had been expecting to see. Quickly picking up a Glock 22 and a silencer, she made her way to the second van. Lara was surprised to see that there was only the driver in the van. Not hesitating, she shot several bullets threw the window and three of them hit the driver in the head and neck. One down, about seven to go, she thought as she made her way, silently back to the van. Opening the door for Kurtis, Lara handed him the pistol and then took a second one from the boot of the car.

Kurtis had been careless, and slammed the door shut. Only when Lara loaded a new clip into her pistol and glared at him, he had realised he had done wrong. The car shook and the mercenaries rushed out of the van to see Lara and Kurtis bolting from the scene. It was dark and was hard to make out their figures, but Lara and Kurtis appreciated this. First of all, it would make them harder to spot and second of all, it would mean there would be less of a crowd to entertain.

Kurtis held his hand out, and brought the chirugai towards him. He placed it loosely in his belt and continued to flee with Lara. Bullets were fired at them, but they all missed and Lara and Kurtis had made it onto the bridge. Lara quickly climbed onto the fence and, immediately dived off of it. Kurtis then followed suit, not noticing the soft 'clink' noise as he dived off of the bridge. Then they were out of site.

The only problem was, they had left behind two very important things. The Rose key. And the chirugai.

AN : Kay, I'm sorry for the late updates, but I've got my charger back. Can anyone see where I'm going with the chirugai being left behind? I'll give you one little clue. Only Lux Veritatis can get into the alcove and get the skull. That's why Rutland needed Kurtis. If only he found the weapon that could help him access the skull...

I'll see you on Monday. And yes, I will.

Please, please review.

Nikita