I'm glad you're all liking the Bryce/Hillary subplot - wasn't sure how that was going to be received, so I'm happy it's working.
Lady Lara Croft - I plan on expanding on The Company later, but for now just let it be said that they're a security service (as in the CIA or MI5) but far more influential, far- reaching and covert, and international. I re-read the story so far last night and realised that I hadn't made that as clear as I intended. They bear more than a passing resemblance to Section 1 from the TV show La Femme Nikita, for anyone who's watched that. ;-)

Hunted

"Right, then," said Lara brightly, stepping into the shadows. In a disused station on the London subway network, Lara, Kurtis, and their team of representatives of The Company, moved along an abandoned line into the dark depths of an abandoned tunnel, and disappeared out of sight underneath London.

The sheer darkness was astounding as they got further and further away from the mouth of the tunnel and the light spilling in from the platform waned, leaving them to feel their way forward with only each other and their weapons for comfort.

The soldiers brought up the rear as their leaders took point, Lara slightly ahead of Kurtis. The teams' torches offered nothing more than thin slices of light to stop them from tripping, eaten up by the dark whenever anyone tried to illuminate anything more than the ground immediately in front of their feet. Night vision was useless, with ambient light levels too low for even the best of technology. No-one uttered more than a whisper, and everyone fought to keep their breathing shallow against their fear. The silence and darkness was suffocating.

"Y'know," said Kurtis to Lara in a low voice that wouldn't get any louder no matter how hard he tried, "they say these tunnels are haunted."

"Yes," Lara replied matter of fact-ly, "Workers killed on the lines, an actress from the theatre that was knocked down for the station. A witch, too, apparently."

Kurtis swallowed. "And we both know ghosts exist, right?"

"Brother Obscura was a breeze," came the confident reply, though it masked a natural fear.

"And your opinion on the sub-terraneans?"

"You told me they were real. Offshoot of the Knights Templar."

"Yeah, but do you think they're around here?"

"Well, if they're not, they're probably inside the Periapt Complex. Wouldn't be surprised if we meet some."

"Legends say they're vicious, animal. And they're adjusted to being able to see in the dark."

"Kurtis," said Lara, scuffing her boots to show him she'd stopped, "we have guns. Don't panic." She set off again.

"Who's panicking?" he replied almost to himself, grasping his Boron X that little bit tighter.

A few more seconds of silence passed, broken only by the crunching of gravel underfoot as the team stalked slowly and cautiously forward.

Then a scream, a scuffle, and silence.

The team swung round to the direction of the sound, near the back of the group, brandishing their flashlights like weapons as the beams cut across the tunnel behind them, sweeping across the floor and up the walls of the tunnel, and disappearing into nothingness within the blackness beyond. Nothing. Absolutely nothing there.

"Team check," came Lara's shaky voice cutting through the oblivion.

"Trent," came Kurtis' voice, his flashlight still swinging all around him.

"Richards."

"Daynes."

"Gilroy."

"Norcup."

"Prosser."

"Talbot."

"Rollason."

"Saunders."

"Booker."

There was silence. Then a shaky, frightened voice. "Where's Cohen?" No-one answered. They all knew where Cohen was.

"Everybody close in. Take partners, stay in physical contact, stay aware."

At Lara's strongly spoken order, Kurtis moved his torch to bathe her face in a soft orange glow and stepped forward into his own light, the look on his face clear. Fear. "We're being picked off."

"Yes," said Lara, looking suspiciously around her, "we are."

"Do you want to pick up girls or have fun?" Bryce stopped suddenly and turned to Hillary on the night-lit street in the club centre of Manchester.

"I'm sorry?" Hillary looked dumbfounded for a second.

"Girls or clubbing? Not that they're mutually exclusive, but you generally get more of one done without the other."

"Um...aren't I a little old for most of these girls?" Hillary looked around him at the Liverpool revellers talking, laughing and going in and out of clubs.

"Right, gay club it is then." Bryce turned and set off resolutely across the road.

"What?!" Hillary stood still for a second, taken aback, and then ran after Bryce.

As he caught up with him Bryce said, "Gay clubs. Destination of those not seeking to score."

"And if someone tries to score with us?"

"They won't."

They reached the entrance of a red neon club with the solid vibration of a beat spilling out of the open door, and Hillary stumbled in behind Bryce, too afraid to risk being left alone in the alien environment of music he didn't understand, people young enough to be his children, and drunkenness he hadn't experienced since university.

As ordered, the team broke up into twos and threes and walked closely, their arms brushing each other, or with a hand on their partner's shoulder, leading each other in the dark and kidding themselves that the light physical contact would act as an anchor to prevent them from being wrenched away from their group like Cohen. The lights had been diminished to one source, lighting the way from Lara's torch on point. She swept the beam from left to right and back again in short arcs at their feet, keeping the ground in front of herself and Kurtis illuminated, a beacon for the rest of the team. Kurtis' fingers were held out to touch lightly on Lara's wrist where she was holding out the flashlight, a gesture useful for nothing more than comfort.

"It's so quiet I can't hear anything over our footsteps and breathing," Kurtis complained, not bothering to explain his paradoxical statement.

"Focused ears are easy to fool," agreed Lara in a whisper, her eyes darting around to take in every detail that the meagre light exposed. "I am so scared, you wouldn't believe."

"No, no," Kurtis said, looking over his shoulder and peering into the blackness, "I have a good idea."

He saw nothing – absolutely nothing – as only two feet away a sudden scuffling sound originated from within the dark, followed by the unmistakable sound of two bodies being dragged over the gravelled floors, emanating out through the shocked, terrified silence as the remaining team members froze and ceased breathing. Seconds that seemed like years passed before someone started hyperventilating, choking out their words in hysterical cries. "That was Richards and Rollason!"

"Are you sure?" Lara shouted, desperate to find some sense through the man's fear-crazed sobs. "Yes!" he almost screamed, "I was holding Richards' arm, I felt her get pulled right out of my hand!"

The rest of the team suddenly coming back to their senses, torchlights snapped on, sweeping around the immediate vicinity and jogging up and down as people ran to search a wider area for their teammates. Two of them dragged the hysterical Daynes to the floor and held him down as he thrashed against them, yelling orders at him to pull himself together and calm down, holding his chin roughly and forcing their words through to him with violent persuasion.

"Calm down!" Kurtis screamed over the din of panicked communication and frantic footsteps. "Calm down! Everyone calm down, that's an order!" His last few words drew their attention, and the scattered team quickly regrouped, a terrified Daynes still panting heavily, eyes wild with fear in the light being shone on his face by Lara.

"Daynes, pull yourself together," she said harshly, glaring. "Discipline is the only way we're going to get through this, and no-one, and I mean no-one­ is going to get hysterical like that again."

Beside her, Kurtis stood still breathing heavily after the melee, backing up her orders with a hard stare swept over the group. "There're nine of us left now. We go in three groups of three. Booker, you're with us. The rest of you split and fan out. Now, the entrance to the Periapt Complex is just up there." He shone his torch straight out down the tunnel and the beam hit a wall, signalling a turn in direction of the tunnel. "There's a drain that goes straight down in the caverns, that's how we'll be getting in. All we gotta do is make it a hundred yards, ok? We're know where we're going now, so we'll turn the lights off, just in case that's how we're been targeted. Right?" His final question was directed to the whole group, but he turned to Lara as he spoke, seeking her endorsement of the plan. She nodded, still showing the effects of adrenaline coursing through her system after the fright, in her posture and breathing. The team split and positioned, the lights were flicked off, and they marched forward into the suffocating black.

"HELLO!!!" Hillary, hiding alone in a corner of the club, was pounced upon by a drunk, spiky haired, overly happy youth, who grabbed him in a massive hug and squeezed.

A frightened Hillary stood awkwardly, being cuddled, and not quite knowing what to do.

"Hillary, this is Rob!" Bryce appeared over the youth's shoulder and grinned at the stunned butler.

"Hello you!" Rob pulled back to clasp Hillary by the shoulders and shake him.

"Erm..."

"Rob's here celebrating his return to singledom. He bought us drinks!" Bryce proudly held up three Sea Breeze cocktails and smiled, holding one out to Rob, who let go to retrieve his drink, and then shoved one towards Hillary. "Drink. Get drunk. Have fun."

"And forget men," said Rob emphatically before downing his cocktail in one. Just as he tipped his head back up and took a mouthful of air, Girls Aloud started blasting out onto the dance floor. "Ooh! I love this one! Let's dance!" Rob slammed his empty glass down onto a nearby shelf and grabbed his two new friends, shoving them onto the dance floor.

Finding a spot, Bryce and Rob started jumping around to the music and singing, but Hillary just stood there, looking lost. "Um...I'm not...I don't..."

"Nonsense!" Rob yelled, grabbing Hillary in another hug and bouncing him around in a forced, makeshift dance. Hillary's arms waggled around a bit as he tried to break free, but it was no use. Giving in, he slapped Rob on the back a few times.

"That's nice, Rob. Nice. Could you let go?"

"Where's the drain?" Lara whispered to Kurtis after they had gone ahead what felt like a few yards, but was probably much less in the darkness.

"I don't kn - fuck!" Kurtis' foot went into the drain and he just managed to stop himself from falling, grabbing Lara's arm. "Dammit," he whispered loudly.

Hearing the noise, the rest of the team behind them stopped, and Booker, ahead with Lara and Kurtis, knelt down and felt for the edge of the drain, mapping it out with his hands. Having found it, he grabbed his flashlight and directed it down the drain, illuminating the huge drainage pipe below that led into the Periapt Complex as a handy, naturally formed, wastage dump exploited by the engineers. The man-hole sized opening allowed light to leak up to the explorers, and the team closed in on it, shielding it from anyone that might use it to pinpoint them.

"Why is it open?" Lara wondered aloud. Surely it should have been covered?

"Maybe the subterraneans took advantage of a ready made front door," said Kurtis, taking the light off Booker and turning it off. There was shuffling as he lowered himself into the drains, a slight thud as he dropped to the floor, and then the light returned as he turned on his own flashlight and glanced over his new surroundings. "Seems safe," he said, looking up to Lara who was staring down at him. "Come on in." He looked down at his feet and lifted one boot out of the shallow stream of dirty water flowing along the pipe, shaking his foot slightly and grimacing at the slime that stuck to the toe of his boot. "The water's lovely," he quipped.

Lara smoothly slid down into the drains, landing lightly. "You certainly know where to take the ladies, Kurtis." She turned on her own light and took a look around, running her hand along a large crack in the wall and making a face at the scum that came off on her fingers. "Doesn't seem particularly stable."

"Yeah, you got that right, how old is this?"

Lara looked up to the rest of the team, looking down at them. "Come on," she said, and then took a few steps forward to clear the landing area and checked the compass on her watch to get her bearings.

A scuffle and a cry in the tunnel above grabbed her attention back, as multiple gunfire rang out through the enclosed area with ear-splitting volume, the strobe-like flashes spilling down to her, the noise punctuated by shouts and screams. "Booker!" she called, dashing back to the hole and jumping up. She grabbed onto the rim and began to pull herself up, but Kurtis wrapped his arms securely around her waist and pulled her back down, both of them landing in a heap in the stagnant water and grime.

"No, it'd be suicide to go back up there!" he shouted above the noise, but no sooner had he spoken then sudden silence took back over, followed a spilt second later by the sickening thud of Booker's body collapsing over the entrance, the black fabric of his flak jacket just visible from the muted tones of their fallen torches filling the pipe and creating small shadows in the folds of the material poking down through the drainage hole.

Silence descended on the two as they lay, breathing heavily, listening. Nothing.

Kurtis got to his feet and pulled Lara up, staring up at the body blocking their return trail. "I guess we're on our own."

Lara swallowed hard, scared and shocked by the sudden disposal of the rest of the team. She said nothing, just accepted the light as Kurtis returned it to her and stumbled off towards the end of the pipe, his hand on the small of her back for their guidance and comfort as he followed her, still looking over his shoulder at Booker.