Slouching Toward Bethlehem
A continuation of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.
Disclaimer:
I do not own any recognisable characters that appear in this piece of fiction. Lara Croft, Kurtis Trent and others are property of Eidos and Crystal Dynamics. The only thing I own is some OCs and the plot. This story was written for pleasure only. I am making no profit from this story.
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» Chapter Twenty Two: Tipping The Balance »
Lara's guards led her along endless narrow winding stone corridors, taking so many twists and turns Lara was losing all sense of direction. She wasn't used to feeling so helpless in such an environment.
Suddenly in the darkness the glint of metal became apparent to Lara's eyes. Cautiously she looked towards its source and saw a pistol lodged in the waistband of the guard walking before her. She could easily reach forwards and snatch it from the soldier, but in such closed quarters a surprise attack could prove very difficult, not to mention dangerous. She continued on, head downwards, waiting for the right moment. It came sooner than she had expected.
The tunnel suddenly opened out into a wide passageway. Oil lamps hung along the roof, casting wavering shadows across the stone walls. Directly opposite was the mouth of the next tunnel, with a huge stone disc lying nearby. It was obvious the stone had once acted as a door.
"Move," one of the soldiers muttered, giving Lara a none too gentle shove forwards. She narrowed her eyes in contempt, but continued onwards with forced control. She balled up her fists.
The group was halfway across the length of the room when one of the soldiers gave the command to stop. The man strode over to the right wall, where Lara noticed one of the oil lamps had burnt out.
One of the men guarding Lara muttered something unintelligible in Turkish. It was obvious however that he wanted the other man to leave the oil lamp be. He stepped forwards and Lara recognised the Turkish word for 'delay'. Some of the other guards began fidgeting. Their attention was divided.
Without warning Lara grabbed for the elusive pistol. Before the guard could even cry for his missing weapon she had hooked an arm around his neck, pulled him to her and jammed the gun against his temple.
All at once the other guards' weapons converged on her and her human shield. With no-one at her back she began to slowly back away. The open space of the passage made maneuverability possible.
"Drop your weapon!" one of the soldiers shouted. Lara simply raised an eyebrow. He really wasn't in any position to be handing out orders.
There was a moment as soldiers and tomb raider faced off. Lara acted quickly, as she knew how the situation was going to play out.
"Open fire!" one of the men yelled.
Lara had already let go of the man she held and flung herself sideways. She landed and quickly rolled to the side, behind the cover of the passageway they had just entered. A nearby thud informed her that the soldiers' bullets had hit the wrong person.
Bullets ricocheted off the wall by her head, covering her in fragments of rock. She waited for a momentary lapse in the shooting, and, when it came, quickly shot off a few rounds at the men. Her aim was true, and each of her shots hit their target. Three men fell: one with a bullet in the head, two with bullets in the chest.
Lara cursed as she was forced to shelter once more behind the wall. The two remaining guards had opened fire on her position. She heard approaching footsteps and realized they were coming right at her.
Thinking quickly in a dangerous situation Lara tried the most desperate trick in her arsenal. Gripping her lone pistol a little tighter she tensed her knees, pushing off the ground hard. She slid out from behind the cover of the wall, skirting along the ground on her side and shooting at her attackers' feet.
Both fell, wounded. Quickly Lara scrambled to her feet and shot one in the chest. He lay still. She aimed her weapon on the last man but her pistol clicked, signifying that she was out of ammunition.
Annoyed, Lara threw away the useless weapon and stepped up to the guard.
"I guess it's your lucky day," she told him, grabbing him by the collar and forcing him to his feet, "You get to die in a more painful way."
The man's eyes widened. Lara gave him a sexy smile and reared back her foot, kicking him right in the crotch. The guard bent double in pain, completely unsuspecting of the move. Lara then reared back her fist and smashed it into the side of the final guard's face. He was knocked completely off balance, allowing her to drop to the ground and throw out her leg, catching the man around the ankles and sending him crashing to the ground.
Whilst the man was still down, Lara quickly retrieved a weapon which lay next to the other downed guards. She aimed the weapon and shot the man in the head. He died instantly.
Lara stood panting heavily, clutching the gun in her hand. About her feet lay six dead bodies. For a moment she simply stood, astounded by the speed in which everything had happened.
A smile spread over Lara's face. Perhaps it was just the thrill of adventure or the adrenaline which rushed through her veins, but she suddenly felt it again. The sense of awe that had got her where she was today. The sense of duty she bore which helped her achieve things few other mortals had. But now it was stronger. She no longer had to just recover an artefact or save the world. This time she was in love, and there was nothing that was going to stop her winning back that love. God knows she deserved it.
After a moment or two the feeling faded, albeit slightly. Lara searched the bodies of the guards and recovered all of her lost weapons, helping herself to some extra ammunition. She could not carry any extra weaponry but now she was well prepared in case any seriously long battles were to ensue. She also retrieved her backpack, searching its contents to make sure she still had her explosives. For a split second she briefly entertained the idea of going back to take care of Jake, but decided she had wasted enough time as it was. She had to find Kurtis as quickly as possible.
Lara paused over the body of the final guard, noticing the satchel about his waist. She searched inside and found a piece of paper which she hastily unfolded. It was a map of the complex, with everything clearly marked in black ink. In the right hand corner however there was an area marked in red. Lara peered closely and read the barely legible writing scrawled next to it.
Belgili tanımlık merkez
"The Heart," she whispered. She studied the map carefully, mentally mapping a path through the passages. She was interrupted by the sounds of approaching men.
Hurriedly she stuffed the map into the back pocket of her shorts and armed her pistols. A rain of gunfire hit the wall alarmingly close to her position, and she was forced to retreat behind the cover of the adjoining passageway. She stayed perfectly still, her pistols held ready. The gunfire had stopped, and she risked a glance around the corner.
Three soldiers advanced into the passageway, their weapons held ready. They had obviously heard the sounds of the earlier battle. One stopped and checked over one of the bodies littering the floor. The other two approached Lara's hiding place.
Lara threw herself out from behind the wall, guns blazing. She had the element of surprise, and two of the soldiers dropped at once. The last was still in the process of standing up and lifting his gun. Lara rushed forwards and kicked the weapon from his hands. A second later her boot connected with the man's head. He stayed upright, swaying slightly. Lara finished him off by launching off the wall at her side, kicking him square in the head and sending him noiselessly to the floor.
Lara stopped to catch her breath, straining her hearing for any approaching enemies. No sounds reached her ears, and she relieved her guns of their empty cartridges, reloading with ammunition she had taken from the downed guards.
She holstered her guns, retrieving the map from her back pocket and studying it once more. She then set off in the relevant direction, towards the Heart.
Deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of passages Lara had travelled. Security was becoming progressively tighter as she neared the Heart, and she'd had one too many narrow escapes. Her lip was bleeding and she had suffered a few minor cuts and bruises, but apart from that she was still alive and ready for combat.
She swallowed past the dryness in her throat. Stealth had never been her forte. Sure, she had some basic knowledge of the skill, but her method was more often than not taking on her opponents, guns blazing with no regard for secrecy. Down here below the Cappadocian desert there was a disquiet Lara had never felt before. It was like she was waiting for something spectacular to happen before her eyes.
She turned another corner, guns first, and relaxed her stance when she found the coast to be clear. According to her map she was almost on top of the Heart. Why then were there no enemies to be seen?
Lara ventured forwards down the passage, her breathing shallow and quick. The scraping of her boots on the floor seemed deafening. She silently cursed the narrow echoing passages. It made it so much harder to get around undetected.
She flung herself around the next corner. Nothing. With quickened footsteps she continued down the next passageway. Perhaps she had reached the Heart sooner than expected…
Her thoughts drifted ahead, as far as she would let them. In her mind there seemed to be only two scenarios. Either find a way to prevent the ritual and get Kurtis out of there, or to blow the whole place into the stratosphere. After all, it would be much better to stop the ritual and take herself out in the process then see the earth overrun…
There was a noise from the tunnel behind her. Lara spun around, guns at the ready. She was greeted by two adversaries. Lara broke out into a sprint, her guns held high, quickly taking them down in a rapid volley of gunfire. They did not even have the chance to aim their weapons.
A noise to her right caused her to swiftly roll to the side, narrowly avoiding the gunfire of another soldier who had appeared from the right corridor.
She stayed in a crouched position, guns at the ready as she fought to control her breathing. Fragments of rock were thrown down from the stone behind her, and when the volley of gunfire ended she spun, catching her attacker in the chest with a barrage of bullets. He dropped to the ground and did not get up again.
Lara wiped away the blood dripping from her mouth and listened closely for the sounds of any further adversaries. Silence greeted her. She was always overly-cautious however, and quickly reloaded her pistols and closed the chambers with a satisfying click.
She proceeded through the tunnel from which her latest opponent had appeared; pistols before her and alert to the slightest of foreign sounds.
She reached a right turning, flattening herself against the hard rock wall and peering around the corner. The corridor before her was once again empty, and she started down it, getting more apprehensive by the minute.
She had taken a further three turns through empty stone corridors when she noticed the passage becoming lighter. There was some kind of golden light emanating ahead, and Lara quickened her pace towards its source.
When she turned the next corner and saw the scene which awaited her she could not help but gasp.
TBC…
Author's Notes
So sorry for the cliffie, although only a mild one this time around. It was just such a perfect way to end the chapter... I am currently 5 hours into a 10 hour art GCSE, which means in a week's time I will have completed a GCSE. Woohoo! Only about 10 to go... Hopefully I will have plenty of time to write again after the fact. As usual, thank you to everyone who reviewed. It really is nice to finish an exam and come home to your lovely comments :)
Lady Lara Croft Thank you! And yes, cliffies are extremely fun :D Thank you for your concern. I have never been very good at balancing commitments. In my mind fanfiction comes above all else, but GCSE's are important, or so I've been told lol
AngelTrent Yup, Jake is one evil dude. He deserves to get his comeuppance...
Arakanga Thanks! I am very flattered :)
dtaylor Thanks! I'm glad you liked the Turkish. I spent a while looking up phrases.
Acid-Rush hehe Your stories rock too! Yup, Kurtis is definitely the definition of cool. Look up the word in the dictionary and there's a pic of him:D I don't really have an excuse for updating late this time round... I'm sorry (cries) ;)
godavari hehe Well this chapter answered your question about Lara, but none of the others I'm afraid. I guess you're gonna have to wait until the next update...
The Odd Little Turtle Ah, someone who approves of cliffies :) Thank you!
N.F.I lol Don't worry, I'm probably the laziest person in the world. :D
Brightbear Just you wait... :)