Selphiefan89: Well...for all the abuse he's taken in the previous chapter, I suppose. I kinda lied to you though about the note's true meaning in the previous chapter...but...you will find you now! (If it makes you feel any better x.x;;) And of course there will be more! I wouldn't want to leave you hanging like that (well..yeah I kinda would...bwahahahaha!). Also...thanks for commenting a lot! (random thingie: I like Yaoi too!! Shinji and Kaoru [yummeh!])

AN: Well...alright, I think you all have waited long enough. I kinda...stole from...Indiana Jones and the Last Crucade x.x;; ahem moving right along...I know I normally make really short chapters but this one's pretty long, as this is where the plot really begins to unfold itself. Those who are weak of heart, be wary of the details in the beginning. I know I don't have much to say as I usually do, but thank you for the reviews! It's so very kind of you .

Chapter Five: Interrogations and Understanding

Vociferous voices stung their way into his head. He clenched his jaw at the pain entering his nerves, as all of them were aflame with discomfort. He couldn't really tell where he was, although he was on a very hard surface, and could feel the shattered abomination of glass, and heard small electrical synapses of sound. Lights perhaps. Lights that were dying. He wanted to retch; something he hardly ever did, and he couldn't figure out why, until the smell entered his nostrils. It was a smell that only one world could not describe. It was of rotting flesh, of charcoal nights spent in fearful corners, of defecated organs heaped in unceremonious piles awash with foreign blood.

He let his eyes open, and everything was a blur. He panicked desperately wanting his eyes to focus. He thought he was back at the sanitarium. What the hell? He thought, still trying to figure out what was fully going on. He blinked a couple of times and, as they did, he heard a shuffling from far behind him. He turned his head and his body to get up, but then screamed, as pangs quickly laced their way through his body. The warm, fiery pain sunk its cold, mechanic claws into his flesh. He exhaled audibly as he forced himself up again, the pain not as intense as the first time. He felt a warmness at his stomach. He looked down, and saw a dark stain seeping through his shirt...the same place where Boaz wounded him. He collapsed against the wall, still able to stand. He heard another shuffle, but it was louder, much louder than before, like it had invaded his wailing head.

The same woman who had come to him to help him was in a tangled mass of the pale creatures that he had fought before. She stared out at him, smiling slightly, as a singular tear fled her eye in terror. The creatures lidless and cadaverous eyes peered out at him once or twice, and their lipless maws bore down on her flesh, tearing her asunder. She still stared out at him, raising a hand to him, soon her face becoming entrenched in pain. The hand that raised was caked in blood, the flesh hanging off in stringy attachments. Veins perpetuated from her flesh, and exploded at the sickening impact that was given them. Blood twisted across the floor, as she was ripped in twain; her upper half was to go first to the floor, her intestines vomited up like a pink snake.

As she fell to the floor, not a sound escaped her lips, as they, like hungry wolves, tore her apart. The ripe yellow of her ribs began to show, as her organs spilled out in a tumultuous flow. He screamed against their attacks. He ran, but effortlessly, for he was not moving anywhere near her. They tore the flesh of her face away, reaping her of the once beautiful features that she had. They ripped the long braid from her scalp, as her skull cracked, a bloody mass rendered itself forth, as more red liquid poured from her body. The sounds of snapping joints and cartilage echoed across the green walls, and the pungent smell that wafted from the horrifying massacre, make him sink to his knees, still feeling the acidic bile pillage its way up into his throat.

He looked up once more, and all he saw was a bloody coagulation of mauled flesh, remnants of bone, cartilage, and organs, their fragile encasing done with. He felt his heart collapse. He finally let out the scream that had been welling within him for so long...

"Lara!!!!"

Kurtis shot up, and suddenly felt two strong hands push him back down onto a soft, pillowy surface. He began to hyperventilate, still not too sure where he was. Everything was so painfully bright and he squinted at the smarting of his retinas. Then, the flood of horrifying images entered his mind, The dark sleeping shadows, the rivulets of blood, the sharpness of the bones. "...Wh-where is she?" Kurtis closed his eyes to rid the light from them. An deep, smooth voice penetrated the dark of his mind "Calm down. It was just a dream. You've been out for a while..." Kurtis' thoughts paused and focuced on the voice that had just resounded throughout his mind. The Demon hunter's recovering visage saw ardent features, whose like he had seen before, and thought he would never see again. "...Father?"

Lara could have sworn that she heard a scream, but she wasn't so sure, because no one else seemed to notice it. She quirked an eyebrow at the thought of the staff getting used to it. She looked about the drab walls of the police station, slightly brighter with the snow outside of the grimy windows. Perhaps one of the other prisoners screamed. Or was it Kurtis?

Lara sighed. She had never thought in her life that the last existing member of a strict Knights Templar order would have been so reckless...or cocky for that matter, but she seemed to find all men that way. Although, there was something deep within her that felt a bit of sympathy for him, although she still was not agreeing with it. She still thought back to the first time at the Louvre, when he had "disarmed" her. If any man had touched her in that way, she would have killed him immediately. Something still seemed to hold her back, but she didn't know what the bloody hell it was. She had felt pity, and almost fear, for him when she first saw him splayed against the wall like that...

But why should she?! He was clearly an arse-hole to begin with. He had "procured" the Obscura painting from her, he had trapped her in an airlock, and she had to save his life, drag him out of the bio research facility, watch over him in the hospital, and now this! Oh, and constantly flirting with other girls whenever they caught sight of him. She couldn't stand it! The way that they would look at him, and fawn all over him, while he would just smile and laugh, throwing in a few "witty" comments. It made her sick!

"I suppose you're going to be in here for a long time" Lara mused, looking at the indisposed Demon hunter, from her blue plastic chair. He was paler than usual; nearly as pale as the white sheets that embodied him. She already knew that he was quite miffed, and tried to tread lightly around Kutris, with him being in his condition and all. All he did was sigh and let his azure eyes sweep the lengths of the dusty room. "Yeah...I guess so..." He stared at the blinds covering the window. An uneasy silence settled within the rubber soles of the room, at least for her. She debated on asking him about his ordeal with Boaz, but decided not to as it seemed a touchy subject. A little to the left and he could have been...

"Paralyzed...yeah, I know..." came the smooth voice from the other side of the room. It seemed like Kurtis was sick of constantly hearing that from many different doctors. Lara was slightly puzzled. How could he have known what she was about to say? Was he Telepathic as well as Telekinetic?

"Yeah, I am"

"Will you stop that?!"

Kurtis chuckled, but was careful enough to stop himself before he was thrown into a fit of coughing. His face then cracked into a grin, his chest still lightly impacting from withheld coughs "Ms. Croft...you'll be the death of me..." . Lara's eyebrows shot up in mock distress, "You brought it on yourself, my good man". Kurtis shrugged, seeming to leave Lara irked slightly as that cat-like grin was still on his face "I dunno...perhaps your thoughts did, now that you know that I'm Telepathic and all..." Lara quirked an eyebrow and leaned back, crossing her arms as well as her legs "Oh really, Mr. Judgmental pants?"

"Mr. Judgemental pants?" Kurtis laughed, still holding back the coughing. "That's a new one. I'll have to whip out my quote book sometime, and write that one down." Lara seemed to ignore his deriding barb, "So, if you really are Telepathic, what was I thinking about not asking you".

As if on cue, a nurse entered with a tray of a singular cup of green Jell-o. She was a youth of at least twenty, had short blond hair stylishly flipped and green eyes, and she almost looked like she came out of a Porno. Lara's face twisted with near disgust when the nurse's eyes fell on Kurtis "Saved by the nurse..." she muttered under her breath, and Kurtis elicited another grin. "Oh you poor thing!" the buxom nurse flitted to Kurtis' side, as she hurriedly set the tray down. "What happened to you?" she asked, clearly concerned for his well being, pushing out her well-developed chest as best she could.

"Well, my sister over here–"He gesticulated over to the astounded Lara as best he could. "–was being harassed by these guys. I tried to work it out, and–"He managed a chuckle, before coughing again "–this is where it got me..." He pulled the sheet down slightly to expose the his bandaged midriff. The nurse moaned sympathetically "How brave..." She gently placed a hand on his shoulder, seeming to shudder with delight at the touch of his bare skin. She then turned to face Lara "You must be glad to have a brother like him..."

Lara was in shock, no, she was beyond shock as she stared in disbelief, at the man she just saved. She wondered if she should have just left him there. 'Know this' she thought, perceiving that he could hear her 'If you were ever my sibling, I would convince my parents to disown you!'. Kurtis feigned a wince and the nurse was immediately brought to his attention "Oh! What's wrong? Are you alright?" Kurtis continued, but in a "pained" voice "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, it's just...my back. I think it's beginning to cramp up..." . The nurse crooned at him, as he was trying to slowly sit up "Ohhh...here let me help you" As she held his back slightly, while fluffing the pillow with the other hand.

She then began to slowly massage his back. "Oh yeah...that's great..." Kurtis still continued in that voice, as the nurse tittered. Lara wasn't sure if she was going to retch or not. She couldn't stand this sick spectacle any longer. She finally stood up and briskly walked out when the nurse was actually spoonfeeding Kurtis green Jell-o, still wanting to rip off her clothing and make love to him.

Kurtis grinned again. She was jealous.

"Excuse me, Frauline. Are you Lara Croft?" a stiff voice swayed her vision to the left. An inspector, with a mustache like steel wool, stood, looking at her, like he had a metal rod shoved up his arse. "Yes...I am" she nodded, standing up. Lara hoped that it wasn't Occult boy that needed some tidying up. The man nodded back, mechanically "We have some questions to ask you." Lara's head filled with anguish upon impact of those terrible words Oh no...please no more about murdering Werner. I've had enough already of that. "About what?" She asked shakily, still finding it had to hold back the weariness in her body. The man eyed her oddly, then shrugged it off "About your friend, Herr Trent."

Oh Bugger.

Kurtis sat facing a thin lipped man, with kind, dark eyes; the man who he had mistaken for his father in his delirium. It certainly was not as bright as it had been when he remembered waking up. The room was somewhat large, with a long faced-window that still held snowy frozen images outside. There was a window akin to the first, but it was more rectangular in shape, and two of the three inspectors that had been ostracizing him earlier, now looking at him with slight distaste. A long table lived in the room, lined with a multitude of chairs, as a white couch sat lazily in a corner, the one where he had gotten up from a few minutes ago. The man sat at the head of the table with a fat manilla folder in front of him, his back facing the cold window, and Kurtis sat to his left, still rubbing away the numbing feeling of shock.

The man leaned forward "You are Kurtis Trent, yes?" Kurtis blinked, somewhat surprised "...Yes, yes I am. How did you--". The man nodded "Good. We are sending for your friend, Lara..."

"Croft"

"Yes, Lara Croft. We've done some questioning with her in the past, and, to answer your question, we asked her if she was traveling with anyone," He nodded in the Demon hunter's direction "And your name came up." Kurtis leaned back in the chair "Ah. I see."

"It seems that you have been suspected of having a hand in the recent murders that have been around the Ceczh-German border, being with a suspected murder yourself...but..." the man raised his voice slightly against Kurtis' protests "but...in the duration of time that you have been here, it would suggest that you know absolutely nothing about the murders themselves." Kurtis' brow clouded "Yeah. So...?" The man started again, this time standing up from his chair as he began to pace the length of the burgundy room. "There have been a series of horrifying murders happening around the Ceczh-German border, and no one knows how exactly they are happening, although, here–"the man returned to his seat, flipped open the manilla folder and removed a series of black and white photographs. "–is what a murder scene usually looks like."

Kurtis went for the photographs, and the man nodded slightly "There are other murder scenes contained within." Kurtis flipped through them, all of the rooms trashed, some outside, wincing at the graphic content of mauled bodies. Some of the positionings of the bodies were so terrible that he even began to wonder how they got that way. "...and this..." he held up the picture of room 204 "...is the most recent murder?" the man nodded, "Yes, the one where Olga Steinmetz said you came out from. I'm sure the things you said to her that she reported to the media were inflated..." Kurtis now had a slight affability towards the man "You've no idea."

Kurtis continued, feeling that he could trust the man a bit more "I was in the room. I came downstairs to investigate, and I found no one present, although, I found this..." Kurtis reached within the pockets of his pants, and removed the letter that he had found. The man, slightly astounded, took the letter from him, and unfolded it carefully, as if suspecting impending spirits to run rampant from the page. Clearly shocked, he looked back at Kurtis with dumbfoundment "My dear boy! Do you realize what this is?!" Kurtis shook his head. "No...I don't know any German, but I could make out a few words. What does it say?"

A door squeaked open, as the inspector with the steel-wool mustache stepped in. He held the door open for a woman with a long brown braid, dressed entirely in denim, save a black shirt. Kurtis smiled at her, but was only met with an annoyed glance. Kurtis cleared his throat as she moved to the man. "Hello. Lara Croft..." She shook his outstretched hand "Pleased to meet you, Ms. Croft. I am Inspector Marcus Kraine." As soon as he had finished she sat down to the right of him. She had a slightly baffled look and then it cleared as she recognized the paper "Ah, the infamous note, we have here" Marcus nodded, and tapped it lightly "I was just about to translate it for Mr. Trent when you walked in."

"Oh good. I've been dying to know what it means"

The man straightened the piece of paper and continued, with his brow furrowed "If you see this now, know that it is too late, to save me. The New Regime came to "collect" me. Perhaps I knew too much, and yes, they were right. If I should explain everything to you, you would bear the same fate, and I will not let this cycle continue. Others suffer my fate. All that I can say for now is that you must stop the New Regime of the torturing and killing of others." A deadening silence overtook the room as the three of them sat, still letting the letter seep fully in. Kurtis was the first to break the silence "So...who is this 'New Regime'?"

The inspector, shaken from his musings, fled through the remnants of the manilla folder "Well, I'm not entirely sure as to what our friend Ms. Moldov really meant, but there has been a cult going around named Die Bruderschaft von Hades."

"The Brotherhood of Hades..." Kurtis mused

"Well, I didn't think you would know that much German" Lara looked at the table

"Yes," the inspector continued, still rifling though papers. "They are highly influenced by The Third Reich's Füher, which, as you know, was highly obsessed with Occult dealings. Their main belief was to breed a race of Üntermanch, Superhumans..."

"Which led to the Holocaust of the Jews..." Lara leaned in further, watching the inspector moving his papers about. "Yes," Marcus' gaze unclouded "...but they had found a better way to create the Üntermanch. " He pulled out a slip of paper, that both Lara and Kurtis leaned in to look at. When they had finished reading the title, they both looked up at each other. Lara wearily flopped back in her chair as Kurtis followed suit. "The Nephilim." The Demon hunter rubbed a weary hand over his face. Marcus was slightly confused but continued none the less "When the Reichstag fell, there were some Nazi contenders still left prowling the world, such as Dieter Echkardt–"

Lara nearly jumped "Echkardt?"

"–Rumor has it that he had found a map that led to some catacombs located in Cappodia, Turkey where the Nephilim, were said to have existed."

Kurtis leaned in, very interested "And so...this...neo-Nazi cult wants to find this map in order to–"

"–ressurect the Nephilim" Lara finished. Both were now staring intently at each other.

Marcus nodded gravely "Precisely". Lara felt the adventurer within her spark back to life "Where is this map located?" Marcus raised his eyebrows "Now that is a question that we have been trying to answer for since we even heard that the map existed."

Kurtis' brow furrowed "We?"

The inspector laughed "Yes. The Brotherhood of Saturn. Another line from the Knights Templar, just like you, from the Lux Veritatis." Kurtis was aghast. He immediately wanted to ask questions about his father, but he knew that he would have to wait. "At any rate," Marcus went on "The last place that the map was identified was to be the actual Reichstag. They had obtained after the Reichstag fire itself, which a member of our Brotherhood had caused, because he was tired of being suppressed by this new Order. For all we could know, it could still be in the Reichstag, or perhaps someone took it to God knows where, although, the map is not the important thing."

"Typical" Lara sighed. Even though she loved a good challenge, why did everything have to be so goddamn difficult?

Marcus began to sift through papers once again "One of the Füher's largest members, Himmel, decided to go on a quest for the Arc of the Covenant, the reason being that they needed a key to get into the inner-sanctum of the Nephilim, which means they probably have already been inside the catacombs."

"But what does the Arc have to do with anything? It couldn't have been the key, could it have?" Kurtis raked a hand through his hair.

"No. The Arc is not the key. In fact, they really weren't looking for the Arc itself. According to some files that we had found in the Reichstag, back in the early twenties, that mentioned, wherever the Arc is, the key to the Nephilim is opposite of it." Marcus blotted his forehead with his hand.

Lara was puzzled "Opposite? But that could be a multitude of locations." Marcus nodded tiredly "Yes. We have now boiled it down to Mount Moirah. Many of our brothers have not been returning, or they have ended up dead within the caves that they have excavated." Kurtis shook his head "But even so, which opposite do they speak of?" Marcus had already pulled out a map and pointed to a circled marked north-west of Mount Moirah "There. In Cyprus. We have been reading ancient texts for centuries now, and that is where we firmly believe where it is located."

"And have you been able to obtain it?" Lara questioned, her face turned towards his. Marcus shook his head. "We of the Brotherhood of Saturn have not yet been able to retrieve it. There is one ancient text which we cannot quite decipher yet." Lara grinned "I'd like to join your search party, if that's alright..." Marcus nodded again, smiling "Yes, we need all the help we can get, but, my friends, there is still more."

"Booby-traps." Kurtis raised and eyebrow as he leaned back.

Marcus sighed "And not just within the premises of obtaining the key, but within the sanctum of the Nephilim." Marcus looked at Kurtis for a moment before pulling out from his pocket a small, aged book, worn with time "This was your fathers." Kurtis nearly gasped as he shakily reached for his father's book, the only thing that connected them. He could slightly feel tears stinging his visage, but he batted the emotions away, as Marcus went on "Within those pages are supposed to be certain clues to getting past obstacles along the way, although, according to the code of the Knights Templar, as all do uphold, none of us dared to open it."

Kurtis nodded weakly "Thank you." Was all he could manage. Gulping back sorrow he looked at Mr. Kraine intently.

"So...what's our first move?"

AN: Well...you'll just have you wait and see ...guess who did her research, huh? x.x;;

whoo-boy that took forever to perfect. I hope you enjoyed it .