Lara sprinted down the long hall, away from Alex, and turned left as the hallway bent downward. Jumping down the whole flight of stairs, Lara made her way to the locked cabinet that she kept all of her guns and magazines in. Rapidly, she punched in the code numbers on the keypad and flung open the doors. She grabbed several magazines and another uzi to pair with the one she already had, and turning her head a moment, to make sure that she was alone, Lara moved to another large cabinet and removed her belt and holsters. Strapping them on quickly, Lara shoved her uzis in and slung a UT-15P over her shoulder.

Lara looked at herself and made a mental note of all that she had. She also surveyed the damage done to her. Finally, Lara's eyes swept down to her feet; they were sprinkled with tiny pieces of glass and crusted blood, some was fairly new. So much adrenaline had been rushing through her, that she hadn't noticed that her feet were almost in shreds. All of the shards of glass that she had been running through obviously didn't agree with her bare feet. Carefully, she tiptoed over to a large cabinet and found a pair of long socks and a spare pair of boots to wear.

\Plucking small pieces of glass off before she situated her sock and boots, Lara noticed that she had been leaving a trail of blood. It was hardly noticeable, but anyone that set their mind to finding her, they'd be able to. Listening intently for any sound or sign of movement, Lara nonchalantly slipped a Cobra Mini into the holder of her boot. She was not going to take any chances. These intruders would all die, Lara would make sure of it.

Sweat dripped off of Alex as he tried to think of something to do. There was no way to escape; he only had one gun, and they had three. In a few seconds, he knew that the lock would break and his awful fate would come to claim him. Not hesitating, Alex bolted to the corner where the hinges of the door resided and waited for the intruders to enter. He didn't have to wait a moment longer. As soon as he had reached the corner, the door burst open to reveal three massive men loaded with semiautomatics. Alex focused all of his force on his right leg as he thrust it into the newly opened door. His action was rewarded with the painful sound of wood hitting one of the intruders' faces; Alex knew that he had broken a nose.

West wasted no time. He jumped out of his hiding place and began to fire. He pumped round after round into the first two men, sending them backwards and out of the room. The huge bulletproof vests prevented most of the damage, but Alex was furious; it was almost like his rage powered the bullets as they went flying into the huge assassins. The distraught Alex watched as one of the men fell, defeated, but the other two came at him in a fury. Alex pulled the trigger on the M-16- it clicked- the sound he definitely did not want to hear.

The two men in front of him smiled maliciously and reached for their weapons. Not taking a moment to think, Alex jabbed the closest intruder with his gun and brought the butt up into his face. The man yelled in anger and made a grab for Alex. West was too fast for this, however, and he turned on the other man that had to retrieve his gun from the floor. Alex ducked what would have been a powerful blow and smashed the butt of the gun into his attacker. It connected in a crack with his jaw, and Alex dove away from the strong arms that threatened to choke him. Breathing heavily now, Alex smashed his unloaded weapon into an intruders face, knocking him backward. Before the thief could get up again, Alex retrieved the fallen semiautomatic and let it ring.

Bullets explode out of the barrel and connected with the assassins' faces, literally tearing them apart. Alex did not stop shooting. His anger was implanted in every bullet that he sent flying, and he could not think of anything else, but what they did to Lara. The familiar click of the trigger was the only thing that stopped Alex. He was now fuming with rage. He held nothing but the utmost hate for every man that intruded upon this house. They would all die, he would make sure of that. Alex dropped the unwanted gun onto the floor and picked up the other. He splashed through the crimson puddles of blood as he made his way out of the room, not feeling any regret for the act he had just committed.

Bryce watched as Simon effortlessly picked up one of the goons and threw him, headfirst, into a concrete wall. Bryce cringed as he watched blood flow from the fracture, and spill onto the floor. Simon now engaged his sawing mechanisms and slashed at all of his attackers. All of the men became utterly frightened and began firing madly at the insane robot, but most of the bullets simply ricocheted off of him. Bryce could hardly contain his excitement, or his breakfast as his prized machine began thrashing about like a tornado, sweeping up everything in his path. The mechanical blades that he possessed cut through the men's arms, leaving deep gashes that exposed the milky white bones.

Now more thieves came to try and destroy Simon, hearing the shrieks of pain from every room in the house. They all shot at him. An abundance of different weapons were used, but barely anything penetrated Simon's thick 'shell'. Bryce watched silently as Simon threw off attacker after attacker. Pinning one to the ground, he swiftly brought his mechanical leg down and crushed the man's skull.

One daring man jumped on the blood- splattered machine and began hitting him with the butt of his gun. Bryce smiled. After Lara had done this almost a year ago, he had installed motion sensors on Simon's back. The reaction was devastating. Simon reared back and plunged the man into a wall, turning abruptly to finish him off. Another assassin's blood had been spilled.

Thief after thief fell at the claws of Simon, but still, more rushed in. Bryce knew that Simon could take some more, but if he overheated, and Bryce was found, it would be all over. The hidden observer heard the crunching of glass from the main room and looked up to find Alex West, armed with a stolen semiautomatic, gunning down the intruders. Bryce felt the sudden urge to hurl as Alex shot five men down, each with a couple bullets to the head.

Blimey, Bryce thought, West has gone mad.

Wincing with her first steps, Lara cautiously made her way up to the main room. She could hear deafening screams of pain and gunshots of all pitches as she peeked around the corner that led into the main hallway. Turning right, she ran swiftly down the hall, but stopped at the sight that she held in her eyes.

She saw flickers of metallic silver as it thrashed in the tech room; black figures were being thrown in every direction, and the once white walls were now painted in a thick red. Sensing that she would need a more powerful firearm, Lara holstered her uzis and reached for her UT-15P. Carefully, she picked her way through the rubbish towards the fight, or slaughter as it seemed to be at the moment. Jumping to her right, Lara ran forward and fired at every intruder she saw.

Shot after shot connected with a body part of an assassin, and more blood was spilled. Lara could not believe how many dead men lied in the room that she was in. Some had their hands cut off, revealing bones that had been shattered into miniscule pieces. Others had their necks broken or their faces stomped on by Simon. It was not a pretty sight.

Nevertheless, Lara kept shooting. Whether it was at the thieves in the tech room, or a lost goon that wandered into the room to join the fight, they all fell. After finishing off another assassin that was running down the stairs, Lara's head jerked to her front door. At least ten more men came crashing in, swearing and shooting at her. Lara barely dropped and rolled in time as every man that entered the house shot at her.

This was no longer a fight for an artifact, but a battle of survival.

Hillary scurried down a hallway upstairs towards the massacre. He barely got halfway to the stairs when deafening bursts sounded, and the banister next to him finally collapsed. The determined butler crept toward the stairs and quickly took aim at a goon just entering the manor. He shot and... connected!

Hillary's mouth opened in shock, but quickly closed as bullets soared at his head. In a thump Hillary dropped to the ground and waited for the firing to cease. He had actually killed someone! Hillary patted himself on the back but replaced it quickly over his ears as the gunshots became almost intolerable.

The butler, with newfound pride, crawled to a banister that hadn't completely been annihilated and stuck out part of the barrel of his shotgun. Aiming carefully at an intruder, he pulled the trigger. Hillary almost giggled as he watched his target slump to the floor.

This is almost as fun as cleaning! He exclaimed in his thoughts.

Lara was almost out of breath. She was yet again hiding behind the potted plant and shooting at her attackers. None of them went to join the battle in the office; they all simply focused on her.

Just wonderful, Lara breathed as she sent more bullets flying. Her side was still bleeding, and she was beginning to feel weak. She hoped desperately that this was the last of them, she didn't know if she could make it any longer.

Another knife was thrown in her direction. This time, Lara had to actually avoid it. The blade had been acutely on target; obviously this group wasn't fooling around. Lara slumped back into her position behind the plant.

I can't continue fighting them like this. They have the advantage, and I'm sure to lose.

Thinking quickly, Lara laid down with her eyes barely seeing past the humungous pot. She shot rapidly at her attackers' ankles, legs, everything below the waist. She sneered with each shot that she fired, gritting her teeth. She almost let out a cry of relief when every man fell to their knees in pain. None of them could stand, she made sure of that. Now, they would be sitting ducks, and was Lara ever grateful for that.

Lara lifted herself up from behind the pot and sat for a moment. She took many needed breaths and tried to relax. No other intruders had shown their faces yet, meaning either there was another wave coming, or there were no more at all. Lara felt her head spin; she needed to get her wound properly bandaged and some sleep that she felt that she deserved.

No, Lara. No time to drift away now. They're still alive...

She felt her stomach do a summersault as she grabbed at her side in anguish. Reluctantly, she gripped her firearm and prepared to attack again, but she saw Simon and Alex charge out of the office and Hillary run down the stairs. She sighed knowing that everything would be all right. Against her fighting will, she fell unconscious.