I'm back again. :-) I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, I hope you enjoy reading it, and I hope you'll click that little review button down there and tell me! ;-) I'm having a really hard time naming these chapters just lately...

Lady Lara Croft, as ever, your review was the highlight of my inbox. Hee Hee. Do they still need to kill the cult leader? Maybe. ;-) Don't forget, however, that they still have that pesky little problem of The Company to sort out. And thankyou, for liking my writing style. :-)

Waiting For The Opportune Moment

Trotting over, Lara quickly caught up Kurtis as he strode off into the depths of the cave complex. Now that they had the Tip and they were free from The Company, at least for now, he seemed a lot happier. More confident, more sure of what he was going to do next. Which begged the question…

"Do you have a plan?"

"Of course," Kurtis replied without hesitation.

"Are you going to tell me what it is?"

"Find a way out, hide the Periapt Tip, fake my own death and continue life as Guilbert Dupuis."

"Fake your own death and become Guilbert Dupuis? Wonderful plan. Brilliant. Fool-proof."

"I speak French," Kurtis said defensively.

"And how many people do you know who have successfully faked their own deaths?"

"Well, be serious! How would I know about it if they'd been successful?!"

Walking alongside him, Lara laughed, too lost in the rapport they had to remember how much she disliked him when they didn't have it.

"We should probably be being quiet right about now," said Kurtis, still talking in a normal volume and stomping down the sloping, dusty, dimly lit tunnel they'd entered.

"Probably," said Lara, "but it looks like Gero knows where we are anyway, so what's the point?" She sighed wearily and then stopped as she saw an intersection in the tunnel leading both left and right. "Well, at least they're not all dead ends."

Kurtis peered down the lead-off closest to him, his line of sight hitting a wall as the tunnel veered away. "Do you get the feeling that Gero is engineering these tunnels? The first two we picked were dead ends, forcing us back into the cavern where he ambushed us, then the one we randomly choose after he's decided to let us two stay free – which, by the way, worries me – leads to a tunnel with just the right amount of directions for us to split up and take one each."

Lara looked at him, one eyebrow raised. "I think you're paranoid," she said brightly, and with that turned off and skipped down the eastern passage, leaving Kurtis staring after her.

"Alright! Fine!" He threw up his arms. "You win!" He took off after her, his longer strides quickly catching her up. "But when we find out that Gero is actually Cheney in disguise and this whole thing was a set up from the beginning and I'm right about the tunnels, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Come on, Bryce," said Hillary, grabbing his slightly tipsy friend around the waist and hefting him away from the bar, pulling to wrench Bryce's hands from their grip on the barstool. "Time to go."

"No!" Bryce wailed.

"Yes."

Hillary succeeded in removing Bryce from the bar and began to carry him away, his drunken charge reaching over the butler's shoulders towards the barmaid that they had befriended, who was smiling after them and waving. "Keiko! I love you!!" Bryce called.

"Lara…"

Gero's voice, whispery and quiet, emanated from behind them. Croft and Trent, happily marching down the stone underground corridors, spun round, startled, but there was no-one there.

"Weird," remarked Kurtis. "And how come he let me stay free but doesn't seem remotely interested in having me around?"

Lara didn't reply, peering suspiciously into the gloom barely pushed away by the flickering lanterns pinned to the walls every few feet. She thought she saw a slight movement way back in the darkness, but an imperceptible sound only detectable by the reaction it caused in her made her spin back around again.

Kurtis had heard it too, and he gasped as their eyes fell on the source – Gero, appeared out of nowhere, was standing far away down the other end of the tunnel. Where before there was only darkness, there now stood the mysterious cultist, his own source of illumination, smiling enigmatically and regarding them with a look that left Kurtis cold in trepidation.

Neither of them did anything. Lara wasn't sure why. She and Kurtis just stood there, frozen, as Gero's smile widened almost knowingly, and then he turned and began to glide regally down another intersecting corridor to his left, smiling over his shoulder at them until he had disappeared from view, leading the way, never allowing his prey to catch up or to fall behind.

Lara looked to Kurtis curiously, finding him returning her expression. "I guess we go that way," she said, and set off purposely after the enigma.

Rounding the bend that Gero had disappeared behind, they found themselves ascending considerably steeply, taking long well placed strides and grasping onto whatever handholds on the rocky walls they could find in an effort to negotiate their climb up the crumbling dusty floor of impacted dirt.

Just before it began to level off the gradient increased sharply, and Kurtis, leading, was forced to pull himself bodily up against the slope with the aid of the walls whilst Lara pushed against his back, then accepting his hand to pull her up as she made her own way up to the top. Grasping onto a sharp stone sticking out of the wall to add her own leverage, her hand slipped on cold moisture, and she fell backwards, Kurtis only just managing to put in enough strength to pull her back from the brink and haul her up onto the flat.

"You ok?" he asked, concerned, his hand still wrapped around hers.

"Yes," she breathed, getting her breath back from the sudden adrenaline rush of the expected fall. She looked at the hand that had slipped, expecting to see blood, believing the lubrication that had caused her to lose her grip to be from the stone cutting her palm, but she saw only clear glistening liquid. "Water," she said curiously.

Turning, she bent down to look at the stone and saw it covered in wet, clear ground-filtered water seeping out onto it through the very fabric of the rock. Curious, she reached out to run her dry hand along the wall and felt one long path of sheen, the whole face seemingly weeping. Wary, she straightened and began to back away.

"The whole wall's wet."

"Wet?" asked Kurtis, turning to examine the wall behind them. "But this whole place is dry as a…" His voice trailed off as he found a similar moisture. "It was dry when I pulled myself up."

He and Lara looked at each other, seeking confirmation from the other for their suspicions.

"Do you…hear something?" Lara asked.

"Roaring," Kurtis said, nodding.

"Oh god," said Lara, her voice rising to a shout as she sprung into action, "he's trying to drown us!"

They both scattered back down the slope, barely beginning their descent before the walls where they had been standing only moments before imploded, a torrent of water crashing in from both sides, colliding in the middle and taking chase after them, splashing and falling in a foam of wavebreaks.

"Go!" Kurtis yelled, as their uncontrolled flight broke into a panic, both of them slipping and sliding down the slope, sometimes falling, sometimes scrambling, desperately trying to outrun the water that they knew would be upon them within moments.

Kurtis fell to his knees as he reached the bottom, clambering forwards even as he fought to get back to his feet, before Lara's hand took hold of his shirt and hauled him back upwards as they continued to flee, tearing around the corner and breaking into a flat out run.

There was too long a distance to go before they got back to the cavern, their only hope of escape from a watery grave, but when the first drops of water fell on their backs, being thrown forward from the crashing tidal wave behind them, they knew that they had run out of time. Stopping simultaneously without communication, they both looked back to see the white raging froth bearing down upon them. The next thing Lara knew, Kurtis was throwing her to the ground underneath him and the wave was upon them.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Bryce asked Hillary, suddenly sober again. They were standing outside the bar, Hillary having managed to extricate Bryce from its clutches, and were now looking around for inspiration as to their next move.

"Sushi?"

"Sushi is good."

Lara and Kurtis hadn't even hit the floor when the wave hit, taking hold of them and rushing them along with its flow, turbulent, violent and tidal.

The lack of time to prepare for the impact and the freezing temperature of the water took their breath away, and their chests burned and muscles cramped as they fought to swim, the current thankfully in their favour.

Within seconds they were at the first intersection they had earlier come to, the flow dividing between the two possible routes and the water dispersing, though not enough to offer any oxygen. Caught in the conflicting currents as the water around them divided left and right, blinded by the turbidity and panicked by their lack of breath, they found themselves disorientated, floundering in place, lost with no time to find their way.

More experienced at swimming underwater, Lara just managed to find enough of her wits to get her bearings in relation to the flows, and quickly deduced the direction of the cavern. Kicking and taking strong strokes, she directed herself back to Kurtis, forcing her eyes to stay open in order to focus on his obscured flailing form. Her hand caught his wrist as his arm struck downwards in an effort to fight the rushing water tossing him like a leaf, her fingers wrapping securely around him. Through the haze of bubbles and dirt rushing across their line of sight, his eyes locked onto hers, and a sharp tug from her as she struck out towards the cavern prompted him to kick out against the water and force himself forwards after her, her hand ever guiding him as he did his best to stay in control against his bursting lungs and the now lone current still sweeping him along.

They suddenly slowed, their bodies jerking as the river opened out into the lake now formed in the cavern and the current died. Only the gentle rushing of the flowing water against their limbs now existed, massaging back the feeling taken away by the cold and panic. Up they fought, speeding towards the surface, desperate for air, the journey seemingly taking minutes when in fact they only travelled feet.

Coughing and spluttering, they broke the surface, noisy lungfuls of air being dragged in, Lara's hand that before guided Kurtis now breaking away from his wrist as she splashed and floundered, clawing back her control against the water as she bobbed once, twice, before finding her equilibrium.

Kurtis was treading water erratically, still panting to recovery, when she shook the water off her eyelashes and looked over to him, gasping herself.

"Alright?" she asked, coughing.

"Yeah," he said breathlessly, eyes darting around as he tried to process all that had just happened. "Yeah, I'm ok."

Lara nodded her acknowledgement, her own eyes searching for a way out of the water. "Come on," she panted as her gaze fell on the ledge high up on the wall, now only a couple of feet above the water's surface. She struck out sideways and glided over to the side, Kurtis following close behind.

Wordlessly, he helped her out, hands grasping her waist and lifting her as she reached up and pulled against the ledge. The disturbed surface, still settling as the last of the water that was now nothing more than a stream in the tunnels, levelled itself off to equilibrium, bobbed up and down against his chin, covering and then uncovering his mouth, small mouthfuls finding their way in as he continued to breathe deeply, making him cough wheezily and sending a nasty feeling of nausea over him.

Lara lay down on the ledge and reached down to pull him up, and then they both rested there, Kurtis on his hands and knees fighting back his breath, Lara on her side wiping her wet hair out of her face and rubbing her eyes.

"That…was not fun," Kurtis got out, dropping over into a sitting position and wringing out his T-shirt.

"For me," said Lara, "not so different."

The water stilled as she watched, the surface sitting peacefully, only moments before so rapid and turbid, now as quiet as death.

"Lara," Kurtis began.

"Yes?" She looked up, waiting for him to continue.

"I, er...I think that I..." He got no further, as he was interrupted by a look of horror crossing Lara's face as some thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Oh my god," she cried, "the soldiers!" Scrambling back on her feet, she dove in before she had even stood up, plummeting fast down into the water, sight now possible in the deceptively peaceful water. Turning left and right, she looked everywhere for the trapped Company agents, drowning in their cages at the bottom of the lake, but there was nothing and no-one there, only the lances that blocked the entrance any proof that their earlier encounter with Gero had occurred.

"Lara?" Kurtis called, peering down into the dark water. As if in answer the surface of the water smashed apart, Lara shooting back up to the surface.

"They're not there!" she shouted to him. "Nothing's there!"

"They're gone?" he said, reaching out to help her back onto the ledge.

"Them, the spikes, the damage done when the spikes erupted – it's all gone," she clarified, clambering up.

"The entrance?" he asked hopefully.

"Still blocked."

Kurtis nodded, receiving the answer he had expected to hear. "Ok, then. Guess we go through this here doorway."

"I guess we do."

The buffet carousel in the twenty-four hour sushi bar trundled around and around quite happily, baring its wears to those seated around the circular bar, plucking whatever took their fancy as it passed by them.

Hillary's hand hovered discerningly as the covered plates of Japanese cuisine sailed past.

"Just pick something that looks interesting," said Bryce, already tucking in to some kind of crab recipe, "we don't have all night."

"Number forty-two is a good choice," a Japanese accented voice said, and Hillary turned to find a young native sitting next to him. "Or number fifty-seven if you're not used to foreign foods."

"Oh – thankyou," Hillary said, a little taken aback. He reached out and, having missed forty-two, took fifty-seven.

"You are here on holiday?" the native asked. He was a young man, no more than twenty five, picking over his own dish expertly with chopsticks and apparently in the company of a similar man, who was smiling politely at Hillary.

"Um – business. But we have a few days to ourselves."

"Kyoto is very nice, if you have time to go," the other man said.

"Thank you. I'll – bear that in mind. You speak excellent English, are you language students?"

"Finance," said the first, and then he gestured to his friend with his chopsticks. "Akira here studies video game production, but we both did exchange programs to England."

"Really?" Hillary asked interestedly, turning away from Bryce to leave him shovelling food into his mouth, "Which universities?"

"Manchester and London," Akira answered. "We both attend the University of Tokyo."

"Very prestigious, isn't it?" Hillary asked.

"Yes," the first student said. "It's very hard to get into. Your entire academic record is considered. My name, by the way, is Takeshi." He held out his hand and Akira followed suit, and the three men shook.

Akira reached into his pocket and brought out a leaflet, holding it out to Hillary. "If you're looking for fun things to do in Tokyo whilst you have spare time, there's a game show that's looking for contestants for tomorrow."

The doorway led a few feet in almost total darkness before opening out into a tiny passageway, narrow with a low ceiling, filled with shadows but lit dimly by intermittent electric lights set along the walls. Similar passageways led off in various directions, criss-crossing in junctions in every direction that Lara and Kurtis could see, a positive labyrinth of paths.

They took a few cautious steps forwards, startled to hear Gero's voice behind them once again. This time he stood in the light only a short distance from them, and his voice was clear and loud.

"Glad you made it."

"Really?" asked Kurtis sarcastically. Gero laughed.

"Oh, you think I was trying to kill you? Don't be silly, if I'd wanted to do that I would have done it a lot sooner, and a lot more certainly than by a possible drowning."

"So what was your point, exactly?" Lara asked, shifting her weight to one leg and folding her arms impatiently. The hand hidden under her other arm fingered the Periapt Tip through the fabric of her pocket, but she wasn't ready to die yet and she certainly didn't accept that there was no other way to kill Gero.

"Why, to allow you access to my 'inner sanctum' of course," he said, emphasising the turn of phrase for their new surroundings with a tone of voice that suggested he was mildly joking. "These corridors are the heart of my operation, I have to keep the minions out of here; really, filling the meeting hall with water is the only way to get mortals up here."

"You half drowned us just so we could climb onto that ledge out there? What, you couldn't magic up a ladder?" Kurtis was still cuttingly sarcastic and definitely annoyed.

Gero smirked. "Well I can't say that there wasn't a small element of amusement in it for me. But, you're here now. That's all that matters. So, on with the show." He smiled amiably and then, a sudden expression of maliciousness forming on his features, swept his hand quickly over Lara and Kurtis' faces.

In an instant everything went black, and when perception returned only a split-second later, Gero was gone and Lara and Kurtis found themselves in different corridors within the labyrinth, alone, disorientated, and completely surprised.