Bryce groaned as he pried his body off of the hard floor that he seemed to be nailed to. The explosion had been great and it had sent him flying out of his chair and into a concrete wall. He held his throbbing head in his hands for a moment to recollect his thoughts; they all seemed to have been scattered in the explosion, but everything came rushing back to him.

Simon!

Bryce snapped his head in the robot's direction, causing his brain to swirl in his head. In the split second that it took him to turn Simon's way, Bryce's heart skipped a beat and he began to sweat heavily.

An immense wave of relief swept over the tech's face as he spotted Simon; the robot was in perfect condition, still standing tall. Bryce looked up towards the ceiling, clasping his clammy hands together.

"Thank bloody-God!" He murmured, tears brimming in his eyes.

Clumsily, Bryce made his way over to Simon and opened his front panel. He pecked at the keys rapidly making Simon flinch abruptly- he was awake. Simon walked forward, ready to fight. Bryce and the Cheshire Cat never before looked so much the same.

Alex opened his eyes. There was a musky haze over the entire room, and he blinked a couple times in a vain attempt to clear his surroundings. Small pieces of debris still fell from the ceiling, adding to the cluttered ground. Alex picked his way through the remains of the main room and the shattered glass, looking for Lara.

"Lara!" He coughed; the unmistakable taste of dust besieged his mouth. He began picking up the pieces of furniture that had flown everywhere during the blast, searching for any sign of Lara. Finally, he overturned a tattered chaise lounge and found her crumpled into a small ball. He hurriedly stooped down and reached for her hand.

"Please don't be dead," he whispered. His voice cracked as he spoke, showing the pain that he held inside. If she was dead...

Alex felt a weak pulse in her wrist, and he watched as Lara's fingers uncurled from their tight grasp. She was white, and lied in a small puddle of her own blood. Alex's eyes softened as he pulled her into his arms. She whimpered softly as he touched the cuts on her face. He grimaced at the shards of glass that still clung to her skin. It pained him to see her like this; there were several long gashes in her beautiful face, and her arms were now black and blue from her harsh landing. He stroked her hair in a comforting way.

"Don't worry Lara, those bastards will pay."

Lara felt her body being dragged across the floor. She felt like it was a mile before she stopped. And then strong chains bound her, and she did not posses the strength to break free. Then she realized- someone was holding her. Groggily, she lifted her head and found Alex West stroking her hair, soothingly really. She almost gave into the petting, but her independent side fought its way back to the surface. Lara moved away from Alex quickly and managed to stumble to her feet. She closed her eyes for a moment and held her temples, which throbbed maddeningly.

Lara stuck out her hands to balance herself, and then she took a deep breath and took in her surroundings. Every banister had at least twenty bullet holes in it, the glass barrier was in ruins, and her whole left side was completely soaked in blood. Lara reached down to her legs and ripped a decent amount of the material of her nightclothes off. She lifted her shirt partway to reveal a sizeable gash in her side and patted the material on it. She barely winced at the pain even though it did hurt, right now, she couldn't really feel any emotion. She left the cloth there and slowly lowered the end of her shirt. Only a brief look at Alex was allowed, and then there was the sound of hurried feet.

Lara hastily searched for her uzis; she found one right where she had been, but the other, she could not find at all. A bang was heard, and the front door now lay on the floor. Lara grabbed Alex by his shoulder and lead him into the nearest hallway, narrowly missing a shower of bullets.

"Alex, I need to go down to the equipment room, all of my ammunition is down there. Can you hold up long enough down here?" She searched his eyes hopefully, and saw him slowly nod. She gave him a quick smile and ran down the hall and out of sight.

Alex now found himself alone. He had watched Lara until she disappeared into the darkness, and now his attention was on the second wave of attackers; they were all tall and burly men. Alex could make out the ripples in their arms, and he noticed the thick bulletproof vests that they wore underneath their black attire.

Rubbing the beads of sweat off of his face, Alex jumped back to shoot at the new intruders. He let the M-16 work it's magic for a couple seconds, but that was all that he was allowed, for an echo of bullets was sent his way, as well as three men. Alex ran as fast as he could with his bandaged leg down the hall, avoiding the entrance that Lara took. He didn't want Lara to be attacked when she was trying to get more ammo. Alex, now running out of breath, slammed into a door, knocking it open. He spun around and knocked the lock in place just as the first assassin reached the door.

Swiftly, Alex let his eyes scan the room that he had entered; there were no windows, and no other doors. He was in trouble.

Bryce leaped into the training room just as the huge men in black entered his line of sight. In his hand, however, was the command pilot for Simon. The deadly robot wouldn't attack until Bryce told it to. If he let Simon attack now, he would get gunned down. Best to wait until the grate was removed- that would only take about three minutes with the proper tools.

Backing up until he was behind a large prop of Lara's training room, Bryce waited until he heard the familiar sound of a blowtorch and the clang of the steel grate hitting the floor. They were in. Bryce, who would normally panic in a situation like this, now felt a sense of bravery. He would save the amulet, and what was left of the manor. Being a 'tech-geek' would finally pay off! Bryce's train of thought derailed as he noticed a thief getting dangerously close to Simon.

Come on, thought Bryce, just a little further.

His patience paid off as about five goons walked into the room.

"Bingo," Bryce whispered. And with a simple touch of a small button, Simon sprung into action.