Disclaimer: I don't own Lara or Kurtis, they belong to Edios/Core. Anything else that doesn't come from Lara's world is mine. Now on with the story!

Chapter 3

A clang of metal against metal…

Warm skin…

Removal of a hard earned object…

To be rewarded with…

Electric blue eyes staring with intent and wonder.

Lara shook her head to clear it and looked to the man standing before her…

It wasn't him.

She gave him the look over. The first thing to catch her eye was his jet-black hair and his eyes. A black lather jacket covered the burgundy tee shirt underneath. Black leather chaps went over blue denim jeans. The bottom was finished out with black boots poking out from the worn hem of the chaps. His handsome face held her for a second. He was clean-shaven and had chiseled features.

"Who are you?" Lara asked. She lowered her gun a bit as she looked at him with questioning eyes.

"Why should I tell you who I am after you shot my bike tire out and kicked my gun into the bushes?" he retorted back, setting his helmet onto the ground in front of him.

He's an American. Lara brought the gun back up and pressed it to the center of his chest. She cocked it.

"Ok then, let's start somewhere else," Lara said, "I'm Lara Croft, and I was just recently sitting in a bar trying to have a drink, and some ass of a man came walking in and thought he could get himself into my britches. I let him know what my answer a good one in the kisser…so if you're here to get the revenge for it," she pulled the gun off his chest and stepped back, "you're going to have get this gun out of my hand before you lose something important"

Lara's gun went flying into the bushes to join the one that was already there.

"Little girls use threats like that…I need to talk to you." He took a step closer to her. Lara reached into her jacket and pulled the gun that was holstered under her arm. She raised next his face and fired a warning shot past his ear.

He didn't even blink. Instead he reached over and pulled it out of her hand. It joined it mate across the road

"Let's start again shall we, since both you and I have no weapons to kill each with now. My name is Oden McCarthy, and yours is Lara Croft. Nice to meet you, Lara." He held his hand out to her. Lara ignored his open hand and turned her head away. Oden shook his head and reached over, grasping a hold of her hand at her side and giving it a firm shake.

"There…that wasn't so hard," he said, "now, I came all the way here to come and find you. You are the renowned tomb raider, right, or am I looking at someone who just has the same name?"

Lara's thoughts raced…she didn't want to go anywhere with a stranger she had just took a shot at and didn't blink when it went whizzed pass his ear…but she was bored with staying here. It was like being in a cage.

"I am Lara, yes, the same renowned tomb raider you speak of."

Oden nodded his head. "I need your help in the search of an artifact. It's located in Africa"

"What part of Africa?"

"Around the Niger River…near the location of the ancient cities of the African Kingdoms

"Does this thing have a name or is it just some piece of rock you want me to look at so you cash in on my fame?" Lara asked. Oden put up his hands.

"Hey listen, if you don't want to go and enjoy another adventure in the wide open world…that's fine." Oden turned and began to walk towards his fallen bike.

"Wait!" Lara yelled as she ran over to him. Oden was looking at the flat tire on his bike as she touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry Oden, I haven't had a good adventure in the last couple of years… that's all."

He looked up and stood. For the first time, Lara's mind wandered.

He's good-looking…she pushed those thoughts out of her head as Kurtis stepped into the picture of her mind.

Nonono…not now.

"Lara?"

She shook her head and looked to Oden. "How did you find me up here?"

Oden pointed at her long braid. "I think anyone would suspect you're Lara Croft with that thing hanging down your back." He turned and nodded towards her bike. "That looks familiar to me too…. I can't just put it to owner…"

"It belonged to a man named Kurtis Trent." Lara spitted out without thinking. Oden swiveled on his heel and stared at her.

"Kurtis…where is he? Is he your boyfriend or something…or did you kill him and take it?"

Lara shook her head. "I didn't kill him. Kurtis died fighting a monster…and no, I was never his girlfriend but…"

"But what? Does that give you the right to take his bike? He'd probably want that thing buried next to him where ever he is…did you buried him here in this godforsaken country—"

Lara's hand went across Oden's face like lightning. "Don't ever say that again about my home. And to let you know…I don't know where his body is. I'm not going into the very long story of my last adventure. Now about this artifact that's got us fighting already…anything else you can tell me about it?"

"Oh no, you are not going to change the subject on me. What the hell happen to Kurtis that he didn't make through…that boy could get himself in a pile of messes and would come out unscathed."

Lara put up a hand. "Wait a minute…how did you know him?"

"Kurtis and I were members of the Foreign Legion. All the guys in our regiment called him the "Demon Hunter" for all these strange things that happened to him when he was with us…then he left mysteriously." Oden rubbed the back of his neck. "I found him a couple years later working for a mercenary group. We exchanged pleasantries and he disappeared again. I then heard that his father had been gruesomely murdered…" Oden paused, thinking, "I haven't seen him since. I was told that he was in France looking for revenge for his father. When I got to Paris, I found where he was staying. People there told me that he had left abruptly after a trip to the Louvre. They also informed me he was heading to the Czech Republic from what they picked up from Kurtis on the telephone in the lobby when he was arranging transportation. I got there and found his bike outside of a top-secret building called the Strahov. I also found out you were in there from a man named Luddick. I put two and two together and knew you and Kurtis must have met up and been working together in there. I left because I couldn't get in, and then returned the next day to find the place surrounded by crime tape and international police around it. His bike was gone, so I decided to come here because you two must have had come here to get out of everyone's hair."

Lara was listening intently. "Why would you have tracked Kurtis all the way here from across Europe?"

"The artifact in Africa is somehow connected to what ever group Kurtis was in. I don't remember the name, but I've heard from the local tribesmen that strange men with the power to move earth would come once ever while to the temple where the artifact is supposed to be located. Us guys at the Legion knew Kurtis was a member and was able to do some pretty strange things like some sort of x-ray vision and pushing us from harm's way with his mind. We all got use to it after a while. When I showed them a picture of the regiment when Kurtis and I were in it, they pointed at him and said that he had spent a few nights with them as a younger man.

"Kurtis was a member of a group called the Lux Veritatis…the tribesmen was pretty close in their description of what they could do. The Lux Veritatis were involved with the supernatural forces and beings. They have been working throughout the world since the fourteenth century." Lara replied. "What is the name of this artifact…it's the only thing I don't know now."

Oden looked to the long roadway ahead of them "In the tribes native tongue it is translated to 'the link between earth and sky'…but we call it the Impact Stone. The reason for the name is because if what you say about Kurtis is true for his death, then the stone will begin to self-destruct since the members of Lux Veritatis are gone. My looking into this shows that the members kept it under their control with the rituals they performed there. All new initiates were brought there for joining the Lux Veritatis. The stone came under the radar of many scientists and archaeologists about four months ago when earthquakes and changes in weather patterns began happening, about the time you left Prague."

Lara rubbed her forehead. "Okay, so lemme get this straight…now that Kurtis has died, the world is going to hell."

Oden smiled. "Yeah, you could say that."

Lara looked to the setting sun. "Then how are we going to save the planet from complete destruction?"

"The records of the Lux Veritatis say there is a opposite to this stone. This one is called the Alcea Stone. Unfortunately, its location has never been recorded."

"That's nice…going to have to search the world to find a piece of rock." Lara said, exasperated. "You know what…just leave me alone and let the world go to hell, because for me…I'm sick of trying to save it when all it does is take away parts of my life." Lara turned and walked towards her bike.

"Like Kurtis?" Oden said behind her. Lara turned back to Oden. He was taken back by how she looked so despondent and lonely.

"No." Lara whispered. She reached for her guns in the bushes and strapped them back into their holsters as she walked to her bike and tossed a leg over it. Oden looked at his bike and then back to as she lowered the visor on her helmet.

"Hey, wait a minute!" He started in a dead run towards the bike as it came to life. Lara didn't even look back as she revved and pulled away from him. Oden stood in the middle of the road as the bike picked up speed.

He tuned back to the bike that was lying in the road. He ran his finger though his hair and looked back to the winding road back to the town he had chased Lara out of. He leaned over and hoisted the bike back up onto two wheels and looked it over.

But he wasn't able to look the bike over for damage…his thoughts were on Lara. He needed her to come help him with this stone problem. The world was starting to take notice of there being something wrong.

But Kurtis is gone? Oden thought as he set the bike back down onto the ground and sat himself next to it. His best friend had died…and this woman he had met was very sensitive on the subject. He wondered why as he rubbed his chin. Oden knew he was going to be hauling the heavy motorcycle back to town, but he wanted to just sit and think about he first impression he received from Lara Croft. Lara no longer had the heart for the tomb raiding she had done in the past. He had heard about her mysterious death in Egypt and her return when the French officials cleared her in all charges of murder for the man who had left her for dead. Oden was getting the sense that maybe she was done and out of being the tomb raider and saving the world.

Oden sighed and got back up. He reached for the bike handles and heaved it up onto two wheels and began to push it back to town.

I need to get her to help me, somehow, some way. He thought to himself.

Then it began to pour.

A/N: hi people, sorry for the long time between chapters…been busying with my life and school. I hop you enjoy this and chapter 4 will be coming as soon as I can finish it. A special thanks to my best friend who reads this and gives me her god-honest opinion. Love ya! Also thanks to all that have reviewed…your comments is what makes writing better!