Tomb Raider: Points of Power
Archives of Prague
The bullets flew. Kurtis thrust out his hands and the shockwaves of Telekinesis slowed the bullets, veering them off – he collapsed to his knees and grabbed his Boran-X. Lara was shooting at the men. Kurtis lifted himself to standing position and started to fire.
"Let's go" Lara exclaimed as they ran down the catwalk the way the girl had run.
"I'll look for Rouzic" Trent said.
"All right, I'll follow the trollop" Lara said. Kurtis sniggered. "We'll meet up at the car, but if that becomes compromised I have a friend at the Hotel Vosnich we can hide there." A shelf splintered near Kurtis' head. He gave her a thumbs up and dazzling grin before leaping down a staircase. Lara sprinted down the aisle of books and ducked in to her left. She saw the woman in the long coat.
"Wait til I get you, you glorified hooker" muttered Lara. She aimed and fired. The girl gave a shriek of surprise, glanced over her shoulder and saw Lara. With a hiss of rage the girl twisted and ran down the hall. Lara raced after her, up a staircase and across the metal catwalk. The girl fired over her shoulder and leapt off the catwalk to grab a lighting arrangement and swing onto a platform.
"Not bad" muttered Lara.
Kurtis slid down a ladder he focused his mind – he could sense people out, it was how he had found Lara a few times. Knew exactly where she was…he quickly descended the steps and searched the minds for Rouzic. He found him, fleeing down the lower levels. Kurtis rushed down into the dingy corridors.
He could sense he was gaining on Rouzic. "Hey Luther!" he called.
Rouzic turned around, fumbled with something and raised his hands. He had a gun… he fired at Kurtis but it was a bad shot. It hit the roof.
"Well that's a fine how-do-you-do" muttered Kurtis. Rouzic slammed the heavy steel door in the corner as he made his escape. Kurtis grunted as he tugged on it and tried to shoulder it down. At last he had to use all his telekinetic strength to blast it inward. He stepped into the room.
"Stop! I'll shoot!" Rouzic exclaimed from across the room. He aimed the gun. Kurtis expended the last of his energy on throwing the old revolver from the man's hands. "How did you do that…"
"Call it a party favour – pointing a gun at me doesn't get good results" Kurtis said as he raised his own pistol. Rouzic lurched forwards, the bony hand slapped frantically at the weapon in Kurtis' hands and for an anaemic looking man the Archive Librarian possessed considerable strength. The gun went off, there was a shot as the light went out then Kurtis crashed down. He looked up. Rouzic was staring up at a skylight murmuring prayers in Czech.
Like he was looking at the angel of death.
Except death didn't have a scythe.
It had a laser scope. The shot went off – with a cry Rouzic's head snapped back and his body was dragged along for the ride. He landed with a thud on the floor…eyes staring up at the ceiling, a single bloody hole in his forehead, just above the bridge of his nose…
"Damn" Kurtis muttered.
Lara shoulder tackled the bookcase. It moaned and toppled forwards. The girl continued her sprint towards a fire escape…the bookshelves slammed down and blocked the exit. The girl cursed in a familiar language and turned around.
With a grunt Lara lunged forwards and punched.
The girl was slender and petite with an angular face. Her sleek blonde hair was tied back by a clamp at the back of her head. She glared, her green eyes virtually glowed with rage. She punched Lara. Lara stumbled back and attacked. Feet and fists flew at one another. "Ms Croft – you have no idea who you're dealing with" the woman hissed.
Lara caught the woman's arm and flipped her over. The woman twisted to her feet and caught Lara's shoulder to swing her into a post, shaking her up. "Enlighten me" Lara exclaimed as she smashed an elbow into the side of the woman's neck and forced her away.
"All that was will be born again" the girl said as she kicked Lara in the side of the neck.
"That's a bit obscure" Lara added as she twisted the girls arm around behind her back
"Tough it's all your getting" the girl twisted free somehow and pulled out a pistol. "Ciao" she fired at the windows and shot out the glass – then with a running jump she vaulted out into the night. Lara rushed to the windows. The girl landed on a huge air mattress and rolled off it. Lara fired at the girl. The bullets pounded into the snow at the girls heels but she moved unperturbed down an alley and vanished.
"Bloody hell" Lara sighed.
There was a burst of rifle fire. Lara looked around, one of the Agency men dispatched by Gunderson aimed at her again and fired. Lara vaulted over the railings and landed on a bookcase, she ran across it and jumped again. She skidded as bullets bit into the wood she had been on moments before and slipped off the edge, dropping to the floor. She pulled out her Desert Ranger.
"Bloody magnificent" she muttered and darted off towards the passages.
Kurtis picked up the folder, it was filled with printouts, transcripts and copies…Lara's name was scribbled on it… this was what they'd come for and no point in just leaving it so…off they go.
Kurtis pushed Rouzic's desk to the wall and climbed onto it, from there he jumped up to the window the sniper had fired through and out onto the white coated roof of the building. Behind him the rest of the archives towered up. He walked over to the edge of the building and dropped down. He telekinetically slowed the landing and landed with a minor bump. "Okay Lara…where are you now?" he walked out into the street and to the side road they'd parked the SUV on. He got behind the wheel and turned his key in the ignition. Glad they had a copy he waited, the radio on but not the engine… idle, he waited.
Lara had taken the two books. They were useless without the central one but if she was lucky she could track down that elusive Other Copy. A burst of automatic weapon fire startled her from her concentration, she spotted Gunderson with his rifle and leapt through the air. She landed into a roll as bullets tore wood and struck metal behind her. She pulled out her pistols and fired at two men standing nearby. "Oh I hate these days" she sighed as she weaved around through the maze of shelves. As she ran bullets spat along behind her as the men followed. Lara fired and leapt, the widnow shattered as she kicked out, she plummeted downwards…her hand snagged the gutter and she jammed her feet into the wall, skidding to a halt, she looked up and then down. Snow far below…a mound of it…with a groan she let go and crashed down into the snow drift.
All was still in the alley then Lara burst out of the snow shaking flecks of white out of her hair and scrambling to get away. She sprinted like a gazelle out into the street. A shot rang out.
Leaning back against a red Jaguar convertible was the woman with the blonde hair. She held her Desert Ranger in one hand and her Chirugai (which didn't look identical to Kurtis' in ALL respects from what Lara could see) in the other. "Sorry love…you've meddled enough" the black vans in the square opened up and men stepped out with their weapons trained on Lara.
"Oh I see" lara noted. The SUV screamed from the alleyway, it skidded sending a wave of ice, slush and watery snow at the soldiers and woman. She shrieked in frustration. Kurtis hurled open the door for lara who'd been caught by a small wave caused by Kurtis' stunt.
"Need a lift Lady Croft? Your night in a shining SUV is here"
"Drive Trent" Lara groused. The SUV roared off, shots hit the back but did no major damage.
"So impressed yet?" grinned Kurtis
"I'm cold and wet because of you…the only reason I don't shoot you is because you're driving. If you want to die please continue talking and stop driving"
The Hotel Vosnich
Lara sauntered in, dripping and looking annoyed with the messy Kurtis behind her. Across the lobby someone watched from behind a magazine.
"Lady Croft the Empress Suite" she said.
"Yes of course Ms Croft" the receptionist said. "With best regards from Mr Cravak – he has already had some clothes sent up for you". The young man looked Kurtis over, they were contrasted and he seemed to take pride in seeing that - the receptionist had slicked back hair, a suit and a cheerful expression.
Kurtis was messy, dishevelled and dour in his appearance.
"Send a tailor up to the room for my friend – maybe some extra clothes as well?" Lara suggested. "He needs it in case you hadn't noticed" she took the key with a smile.
Kurtis and Lara walked into the elevator and Lara pressed the 25th button. She spotted something as the doors closed, she couldn't see who but she could see someone watching them. "We're not safe here for long" Lara said.
"I felt someone watching us…maybe the sniper who shot Rouzic wants to shoot me?" Kurtis suggested. "I swear this is like a game of cat and mouse"
"Indeed" Lara said. "But which one are we? The girl's comment about: all that was being born again…its familiar somehow." She shook her head and rubbed her temples and stepped out of the elevator as the doors opened.
The suite was luxurious with a huge Queen sized bed, en suite with Jacuzzi and a mini bar. Kurtis had radar of some sort, Lara noted, he made a beeline for the minibar while she went to shower. When she returned he was turning on the widescreen to watch something.
"You watching the game?" she said with a smile.
"yeah you know about the game?"
"No there's always a game of some sort, it's a great comment for some celebrity dinner parties" she walked over to the cupboard in her robe and took out the clothes. "Shower's free go and enjoy it".
Kurtis groused about it being "about time" and headed in. The hiss of water came from behind the door as Lara changed behind her screen, she pulled on the jeans and black sweater before walking back out. Kurtis was standing there in his towel looking frustrated.
Lara drank in the abs.
"I've got nothing clean to wear" he groaned.
"The tailor will be here soon" Lara muttered. "Stop whining you baby" she tore her eyes away from his naked chest and checked the food trolley. She opened the box of chocolates and popped one in her mouth.
"Where'd that come from?"
"Cravac the hotelier is an old friend of mine, he sends me the same food everytime I'm here" she nodded appreciatively. "He's got excellent taste anyway, I'm never disappointed." There was a knock at the door. "That should be your clothes now". She opened the door and the young man in the red blazer, white shirt and black trousers and bowtie of the hotel staff handed her the bundle of clothes.
"Thank you" she smiled.
"No problem" he replied. "Compliments of the house" he handed her a white envelope. "Good evening" he walked down the hall. Lara's eyes drifted to his feet… he was wearing sneakers.
"Stop!" she exclaimed. The boy glanced over his shoulder at her then stepped into the elevator and vanished. Lara rushed to the lifts to try and catch him but she arrived in time to have the doors between them close – the boy winked at her… and was gone. "Kurtis, call reception, tell them there's a boy in the building imitating an employee" she reviewed the card he'd given her – it was too thin to be a bomb – she had to open it.
Carefully she slipped a knife from her pack into the top and slit it open carefully – the card within was red and swirling black writing covered it. At the top was a crest with two crossed swords on a shield portraying a castle.
"You are cordially invited to Blackwyn Fencing Club in London by Lord Henry Blackwyn on Wednesday the 18th at 2 pm sharp" she read.
"Security are on the look out but they say the elevator cameras have been shut off somehow" Kurtis had changed into the red sweater and baggy khaki cargo pants. "What did the guy give you?"
"An invite – and this" she held up a coin with an intricate pattern on it. "I get the feeling the COIN was the big delivery and the letter was a secondary". She frowned and then opened a laptop on the desk out. "First things first I'll tell Winston to prepare for us tomorrow, then the next day we visit Lord Henry…next we concern ourselves with these pleasant people trying to elude and murder us"
Kurtis nodded then something occurred to him. "How did you know he was a fake – the boy I mean?"
"Because his sneakers were neon green – and clashed terribly with his shirt. Mr Cravac would never allow those shoes in a million years" shrugged Lara. "We'll set to work on this case tomorrow morning when we're on the flight to England".
"What no dinner?"
"I never said that, we'll order room service…then you can sleep on the sofa"
"Typical."
!-TBC-!
Next chapter: They return to England in the hopes of finding out what's going on. They commence the tidy up of the trophy room and we here some of Lara's old stories, also more questions then answers come from the Fencing Club Luncheon - and there's murder!