Kurtis Trent

Parisian Ghetto

7:00 AM

Kurtis parked his bike on the other side of the Parc de Lune Park next to St. Aicard's Church. He sighed, looking around him, the streets still empty. The only person he saw was a guard behind a gate beside the church

A bodyguard next to a church seems mysterious.

Kurtis watched the man. The guard was just standing there reading what looked like a magazine.

Maybe he is the doorman everyone around here keeps talking about.

"Hi, I want to see Bouchard," Kurtis said, walking up to the gate.

"No one with that name here," the guard said, placing the magazine down on his chair.

Maybe bribing him will work.

"Name your prize."

The bodyguard's eyebrow rose. "Hmmm. Do you have eight hundred?"

That's what I'm talking about.

"Yes, I have that," Kurtis said, taking out a roll of money.

"Pass it through."

"No, gate first."

Sorry big fellow, I won't fall for that.

"You need to find the mausoleum in the churchyard, it leads down into the basements," the doorman said, moving the big drum holding the gate close.

After handing over the money, Kurtis headed down the mausoleum into the basement. He found himself inside a tunnel, rats scurrying away. As he looked down the tunnel, he noticed a heap of rubble blocking the path. He looked to the other side, following the tunnel there. He jumped over a pit, his powers giving him a boost.

No wide pit will stand in my way.

As Kurtis moved down the tunnel, he stopped, seeing a wide pit with dirty water, the other side blocked. How do they even get down here with all these paths blocked?

Kurtis jumped into the water and dived down. He swam through a tunnel at the bottom, emerging on the other side as he had hoped. He climbed the wall up to and went on with the tunnel.

Kurtis continued along the passage to a cave-in. He pulled a boulder to shift the pile of rubble. He still couldn't get through, but it unblocked the passage on the other side. Kurtis goes down on all four and starts crawling through the opening, heading to the door on the other side.

He passed through a room with bright light and some pipes, exiting via a hole in the wall into a storage area with barred cells and a few coffins.

I hate these places.

In the next room to the left, he found a hideously deformed man squirming on a cot and growling in pain. Metal grew out half his body.

Kurtis gasped. This is Eckhardt's work.

"Can we help you?"

A man's voice came behind Kurtis. He turned around, seeing another bodyguard standing there.

"Yes, I'm looking for your boss," Kurtis said, watching him.

"What for?" the bodyguard asked.

"What happened to your man here?"

"Arnaud? You have something to say about that," another man said.

The bodyguard stepped aside, letting his boss come out.

"Bouchard?" Kurtis said.

"Yes," Bouchard said. "Who are you?"

"Who I am, does not matter, but what's happening here does," Kurtis said. "I know you're working with Eckhardt and I know he is targeting you but the question is, Why?"

"Yes, I work for Eckhardt but that was before I realized what kind of psychopath he was."

"So you turned your back on him,"

"And then he started threatening my men, my families if I didn't start helping him with something." Bouchard sighed. "So I gave him someone's number."

"Who?"

"Werner."

"But Werner then contacted you. Why?"

"Because he wanted protection and contacts of the Louvre. I gave him Mathias Vasiley's number." Bouchard said. "A former Lux Veritatis knight to help him."

"What was Vasiley helping Werner for?"

"The locations of all Five Obscure paintings."

"And for this Werner gets killed and a former adventurer is now looking for them," Kurtis said. "How do you know about the Lux Veritatis and that Vasiley was one of them?"

Bouchard gasped. "Look, working for the Cabal lets you know who the enemies are. If I start recognizing your face, you're one of them."

"Like I said, who I am, does not matter." Kurtis sighed.

I'm not a part of them anymore.

"Vasiley also has all the engravings of all the painting locations, but Eckhardt is insane. I'm trying to stay as low as I can."

"Thank you, Bouchard," Kurtis said, turning to leave.

"Listen, I have a contact, his name is Rennes, he owns the pawnshop down the street nearby my club."

"I'll have a word with him, thanks." Kurtis glanced back at Bouchard. "If a brunette comes here, you'll help her get what she wants. But act as though you didn't expect her."

"A friend of yours?"

"No, an ally of the light," Kurtis said, walking out, leaving Bouchard and his bodyguard staring at him as he left.

"Sir?" the bodyguard asked.

"Make sure whoever this woman is, she makes it to me, understood? I'm already in trouble from the Cabal. I do not want the Lux Veritatis on my ass as well."

Lara Croft

Parisian Ghetto

7:36 AM

As Lara left the Le Serpent Roug, she went past the corner where Jenice usually stood - but the prostitute wasn't there anymore.

Hopefully, she found a guy. Not trouble.

Lara took the stone stairs up again and headed straight to Cafe Metro, to give Pierre his box and get the info about Bouchard.

As she entered the cafe, it was a bit busier than earlier, with a few people sitting here and there. She glanced at where the stranger had been before, his newspaper still lying open on the table and his coffee half-drunk.

Guess Pierre hasn't had time to clean this up yet, let's have a look.

PARISIAN 'MONSTRUM' KILLINGS CONTINUE. LARA CROFT WANTED FOR QUESTIONING.

Oh, so they just want to question me.

Lara shook her head, glimpsing a piece of small paper under the cup. A list of Cabal members could be useful.

Lara pocketed the note as she saw Pierre coming towards her, a phone in his hand.

"Did you?" He paused his voice nearly a whisper. "Everything, go okay?"

"You were right about the place being staked out. There were gunmen all over the place. No sign of the Monstrum though," Lara said, taking out the small box.

"You got it! Ha!" Pierre said, trying to grab the box from Lara

She pulled back faster than he could grab it.

"Now a little matter of Bouchard's whereabouts?"

"Bouchard, yes…er."

"You aren't going to disappoint me are you?" Lara said, pointing a finger at his chest.

"No, it's just that someone else was asking for him. Just after you left."

"Asking for Bouchard?"

"Yes, the customer sitting here in the corner, reading. I couldn't tell him anything, naturally, but he may have overheard us."

"You know, you talk real loud. It's hard not to notice it," Lara said, getting a bit irritated with Pierre being so loud in their previous conversation that now someone else was also looking for Bouchard.

"Okay, Okay. Take it easy. Are we going to make a deal?" Pierre said.

"Only if you behave?"

"Alright, Bouchard is lying low. I know someone who can show you where."

"You can trust them, this person you know?"

"Just about, name of Francine. She's my ex."

Great, he's trusting his ex for this.

"Reassuring," Lara said as Pierre dialed a number on his cellphone.

"Hey, Francine, it's Pierre," he said ."I can send her. Thank you."

He placed the phone in his pocket and took a small piece of paper out.

"This is her address and the code to her gate," Pierre said, handing Lara the paper.

"And she can point me to Bouchard? You sure?"

"Oh, absolutely, she knows a discreet route to the back of the premises."

"Discreet? Translation: dangerous."

"Nothing in Paris is safe, but this route will get you where you want to go. Please, it's arranged. She is expecting you."

"I hope this arrangement works out, Pierre. I'd hate for you to become a personal problem," Lara said, handing him the box. She turned around and left the Cafe.

Lara took a left and passed the cement barriers to the Rue Dominique, continuing a short way to number seventeen. She entered the security code - 15328 - on the keypad.

Hope this works.

The gate made a sound telling Lara that it was open. She pushed it open, heading up the stairs to another door. She gave it a knock. As she waited, she glanced around. It was a garage with a big red truck inside.

"Who is it?" a woman said.

"Pierre sent me," Lara said and the door opened.

Lara stepped into the dining room. Next to it was a wall, with a long dining cupboard displaying all types of plates, cups, and glasses.

Francine wore a black jacket with a red top and dark jeans with heels.

I wonder how she fits in all of this.

"So how do I find Bouchard," Lara said.

"Bouchard is in the old church. You need to find the mausoleum in the churchyard. It leads down into the church basements," Francine said, leading her back door.

The balcony. Great. More climbing for me then.

"Is this the best way?" Lara said.

"It's the only way past the Doorman. Watch out for the ledges. They are dangerous."

"What isn't these days?"

"Welcome to Paris." Francine chuckled.