Thankyou, thankyou all! bows to her fanbase LOL. No, really, I really appreciate all the wonderful feedback I've had. :-)
It's been pointed out that Kurtis, though also on a 'journey' now that AOD is over, is seeming a bit underdeveloped. This is because, for some reason, I decided to write this story in Lara's viewpoint, so naturally it's difficult to write anything without Lara being involved. So, I've decided, I'm going to do what I can with Kurtis in this, but once this is finished, I'll write a sort of sequel in which I cover the same story, but from Kurtis' point of view, showing how he's dealing with it all.
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At the bank of computers used to monitor SIMON in my training exercises, Bryce sat sprawled in his chair, doing nothing. It flitted across my mind that this was unusual behaviour for Bryce when computers were present, and I allowed myself to believe that he was too concerned for me to do anything else. I came up behind him and spoke, startling him from his reverie.
"Bryce! Reset SIMON. I'll be back in five minutes."
He stared wide eyed for a second whilst the information registered, and then he broke into a grin and leapt to the task, talking to SIMON as he did so. I headed determinedly for the kitchen for a stiff drink.
Hillary was there, preparing the evening meal. I walked in and set about pouring myself vodka.
"Did Kurtis speak to you?"
"You know he did, Hillary."
There was silence for a moment and then Hillary spoke again.
"Was it helpful?"
I screwed the lid back on the liquor, put the bottle away and spun round, leaning back on the worktop to face my butler.
"Hillary, I know you're worried, but I neither want nor need counselling. I'll work through this in my own way, in my own time." My voice was stern, brooking no argument. Hillary didn't listen.
"Working through it in your own way doesn't seem to be working, and has taken too much time. Lara, I really think – " I cut him off.
"I really think that I'll find my own way. I'm sorry, Hillary, but if you want to help me, let me find my own solution."
I left the room, not unkindly, and returned to Bryce, who handed me my guns, reloaded and primed.
"Ready to win?"
"Absolutely." I smiled and resolutely re-entered the arena, feeling nowhere near as confident as I looked. There was one thought in my mind – that if I was ever going to get through this, then Kurtis was right, I had to start winning again.
Stepping carefully ahead, turned slightly to one side for maximum agility should I need it, I prepared myself for a fight. Every sense was in overdrive, and my heart rate was unusually high. Realising this, I scowled and remembered when only the most dangerous of territories would get me this nervous. Checking around every corner before stepping out into the open, constantly scanning the area of blocks and columns with my guns, I grew more and more scatty as stillness continued to pervade the room.
A clump of rubble fell off the corner of one of the damaged columns to my left, and I spun, shooting wildly before I realised that there was nothing there. Closing my eyes and sighing, I bought one of my weapons to my forehead, soothing myself with the feel of the cool metal. I holstered both, and then took the final few steps to my prize, a jump drive containing some of my favourite MP3s.
I knew full well that the moment I took it there would be an attack. What I was not expecting was that the attack would be in the form of spikes shooting up from the floor beneath me and a swinging blade arcing down from the corner. The only warnings I had were the swish of the axe and a few small clicks from the mechanism controlling the spikes. Without even realising what was happening, I had back flipped out of the way and rolled to face the exit, my guns drawn, ready for an onslaught.
My instincts were right. From my left, SIMON threw himself down from the top of a column that was shrouded in shadows, and I barely managed to get out of his way. Jumping over him and twisting in mid air, I let rip with my pistols, hopping back as I did so. SIMON quickly gained on me, running without regard into my fire, and as he leapt for me I dropped and rolled, our combined actions reversing our positions. I knew from past experience that it took a lot of gunfire to stop SIMON, and I also knew that in my current state, if I wanted to win, I would have to come up with a quicker solution than that. My heightened senses picked up on the movement of the axe still swinging behind me, and an idea formed in my mind.
I back flipped again, towards the booby trapped pedestal that had held the jump drive, and then sideflipped behind a column to my right, the blade swinging only feet away. Pulling myself up onto the column, I again continued to fire at SIMON, who was returning along the track. I smiled as my actions lured him onto a block in front of me, and then got ready to jump as I saw the robot tense for a spring towards me. He launched himself off the block with tremendous power, and, quickly realising that my originally planned side flip would result in a collision between us, I crouched and let myself drop sideways off the column. Landing on my side, I rolled onto my back and pointed my guns towards SIMON, hoping that I wouldn't need them.
Thankfully, I didn't – my plan worked. Missing me completely as I'd fallen to the side, SIMON had continued through the air, and through an act of pure luck his timing caused his path to meet that of the axe head. It connected with the robot's body, redirecting his path sideways. I followed my attacker's path through the air with my pistols, but SIMON smashed into the ground with a loud crash, and lay, broken and damaged, still.
I let my head drop to the ground and my arms fall to my sides, panting heavily. There was silence for a second broken only by the fading swing of the blade as it gradually ground to a halt, and then the post battle calm was broken suddenly by a round of applause and cheers, and my three friends came running to my side, Kurtis whooping, Hillary exclaiming that he'd never seen such a show of acrobatics, and Bryce, so impressed, ignoring SIMON in favour of pulling me into a hug. Returning Bryce's grasp, I smiled at the others over his shoulder and then said,
"When did those spikes and that axe appear?"
"I thought it might make a nice surprise for when you got back home," Hillary said, laughing.
I let out a breath and smiled again, pushing myself to my feet. If nothing else, the shock of the unexpected traps had rocketed my confidence through the roof, and I was ready and willing to take on anything – in my mansion where I was unlikely to get killed, anyway.
"I think it might have been just the right kind of surprise, Hilly," I said, moving to hug him.