An eerie calm settled. The air hung thickly around her. Lara moved stealthily around a sharp corner of rock. She sported two 45's and a small black rucksack. She had just climbed the forbidding faces of Everest, only to find that her goal was hidden deep within an underground cave. She took a good look at her surroundings. Sheer rock walls rose to either side, and the trickle of a small underground spring could be heard in the distance. She cocked her pistols and took a careful step forward.

Everything suddenly went fuzzy. Static groused from the simulated walls as they disappeared right before her eyes.
"Fuck!" she screamed. "Bryce, what the hell is going on'?
"Hold the phone a sec Lara! We're having serious technical difficulties up here!" Bryce's whinny voice responded over the intercom. Lara aimed and destroyed the intercom with a shower of bullets. Bryce came running into the simulation room. "Christ Lara! You promised no more live rounds in the Sim!" he screeched.
"And you promised you'd have this new system up and running without a hitch a damn week ago!" she replied with a growl. She threw the pistols to the ground and stormed off. Hillary met her as she emerged from the Sim. He said nothing as he handed her a towel and a bottle of water.

Lara marched to the study. She needed Tchaikowsky and his piano. She flopped into the plush antique chair that stood regally alongside its mate, a mahogany desk - circa 1800. She clapped her hands and Tchaikowsky's piano concerto seeped from the woodwork. It flowed through the air, erasing negative energy - and soothing Lara's tightened muscles. For a moment, she relaxed, breathing deeply. She remembered Sunday afternoons with her father in this very room, listening to the very same music. He would hold her in his lap as he relaxed to its sounds, the sun coming in softly from the grand paladian windows behind them.

Lara's daydream was interrupted by the shrill call of the telephone. She grabbed it, cursing under her breath. "Hello"?
"Lady Lara Croft?" the voice on the other end asked in excitement.
"That would be me," she replied.
"My god. I can't believe I'm actually talking to you!" the voice exclaimed. 'Another obsessed fan' Lara thought. She was about to hang up. "Please don't hang up! I'm sorry, it's just that I've been a huge fan of your work since your first adventure in Peru". Lara raised a brow. Hardly anyone followed her work that closely. "My name is Ethan Cambridge, and I have a proposition for you".
"I'm listening," Lara replied at length.
"Not here, not now. Have dinner with me".
"Mr. Cambridge, I'm not one to accept a dinner invitation from a total stranger," Lara replied with mild irritation.
"I figured. That's why I've already made reservations for us," Ethan replied cheerfully. "Maxwell's, 7:30. I'll be waiting". With that, he hung up.

Lara let the phone drop to the cradle. He had just told her what to do. No one told Lara Croft what to do. "And that's why I'm going to take Mr. Cambridge up on his little offer," she said to herself.