Resonant
"Gunderson!" Lara hissed at her captor.
"Yes, Lady Croft. I must say chasing you has been one of the most excruciating tasks I've endured. First through the Louvre, than the Strahov. Now through Florence, too. But, I've got you now."
"What do you want, Gunderson?"
"I hardly think that you are in a position to demand, Croft. But as you ask, I will tell you. I want that key."
"Like you wanted the painting?" She spat.
"No, I never wanted the painting from Florence: I wanted you. It seems that the key is difficult to find without the painting. But still, it is much more suited to your expertise than mine."
"So I get the key. Then what?"
"There are even more plans for you, Croft. I don't know all of them. But you'll get the key."
"And if I choose not to comply?"
"Then we'll have to take the proper action." He waved an arm and a sentinel moved his gun menacingly towards Kurtis. "It would be a shame, he was very good when he worked for me. But I guess some things change. Croft?"
"It seems I have no choice."
"Very good. Two guards will go in with you, I know better than to trust you with any weaponry. But keep in mind that the entire church is surrounded, and Istanbul is crawling with my operatives."
"And Trent?"
"He will be my insurance."
Lara shook her head. "No. There will be doors that only he can open. He must come with me." Damn. That's why I like to work alone- I've never needed anyone else before.
Gunderson paused for a moment. "Very well, Lady Croft, only because of the guarantees of my situation. There are no possible escapes for you. Three of my guards will go with you to assure that you fulfill your requirement."
Gunderson spun around and shared a word with a guard before stalking off into Istanbul.
"In," the guard demanded as he and two more followed Lara and Kurtis into the church.
"Thanks, Lara," Kurtis said to her, as they looked around the building, much simpler than the one in Florence, with simply one rectangular room and no hidden chapels or alcoves. Lara replied to Kurtis with a cold, narrow-eyed stare. "What?"
"I can't believe you worked for Gunderson. It would have been nice if you'd shared that little gem of information earlier." She hissed.
"I did tell you, remember?"
"I didn't think you were telling the truth!"
"Look, Lara, I was young, and desperate. I'm not proud of what I did."
"Yes, but you still did it." She countered.
"We're not all blessed with coming from the lap of luxury that you hail from, Lady Croft." Kurtis said as his temper broke. It took all Lara had not to punch him.
"Take that back!"
"You're right, I'm sorry Lara; I shouldn't have said that." He apologized, his disposition returning to his usual self. Lara hadn't actually expected him to take back his comment without a fight. It caught her off guard, and she tried to recover.
"Right." She offered in reconciliation. "I bet the door is in the basement. What are we to do with our 'friends'?" she asked.
"Nothing. We won't lay a finger on them, even if they need it." Lara suddenly found herself reminiscing of a time long ago when she had been searching for the Philosopher's Stone in Rome. Pierre had helped her up from her position dangling on a dangerously deep cavern, under the promise that she wouldn't lay a finger on him. Naturally, she withheld this promise, even as he soon dangled on the edge. Busy girl, got to go. She laughed in spite of her situation. Is it really that easy to return to that life?
Kurtis raised an eyebrow at her laughter, but his only response from her was a twinkling in her eye that told him that she was doing something she loved.
They found the entrance to the basement in the rear of the church behind the pulpit, the three guards trailing them. The stone staircase they found led in a spiral to the bowels of the building. The gray stone architecture was simple and yet strangely foreboding.
Lara sensed the hesitation in the guards that followed them, their guns trained on she and Kurtis and yet their eyes fearfully looking at the small room they now stood in.
"I guess this wasn't in the job description?" She said to Kurtis as she gestured towards the wary guards behind them. Kurtis smirked and chuckled before responding.
"Not quite."
The room that they were in showed itself to be an almost identical replica to the entrance to the catacombs in Florence. The walls were gray tiles, the ceiling consisting of archways that threatened to bump a head that wasn't cautious. It was clear that they were in a tunnel of sorts, and Lara knew how to light their path.
She moved into her backpack to extract a lighter, forgetting that it may look like a weapon to the guards. It did.
"Drop it!" the one nearest her shouted.
"It's alright, it's just a lighter. We'll need it to illuminate our path."
"Give it here. I'll do the honors." The guard continued.
"If you wish. Just light it near that groove in the wall." Lara instructed, her patience short.
"Bitch!" the guard exclaimed as he did as told, the fire that erupted having caught the arm of his glove, singing the fabric and burning his hand.
"You insisted upon it." Lara retorted, warranting her a smack across the head, before she was shoved into the hallway. "Tsk, tsk. You should know better than to treat a lady like that." The guard merely grunted as his gun pointed coldly at her back.
"Walk."
She turned to Kurtis as she trudged down the now illuminated path. "Quite an enterprise."
He grunted in reply as he extracted the painting from her backpack. It took them but moments to realize that the etchings on the map for the key dictated the path through the tunnels. It was longer than the previous one, with the tunnel narrowing and widening at various intervals, curving and sloping at will, it would seem.
Finally, they reached their destination. The tunnel evened out, straightened out. A direct route to a familiar metal door. Lara tentatively stepped forward then withdrew her foot. Traps. There are always traps. The guard with the burned hand noticed Lara's hesitation and pushed her with the gun. She wouldn't budge.
"If you're so anxious, be my guest." She remarked as she gestured down the hall. The guard flashed her a look that said, "I'm not falling for that again" as he motioned for one of his comrades to proceed. The guard eyed the hallway suspiciously before placing his foot in the direction of the door. Nothing happened. Emboldened, he continued down the hallway with an arrogant attitude. Still, no one else moved. And no one said anything when the spike erupted from the wall to pierce the guard from just about every angle, leaving him skewered but prostrate on the floor, dark crimson pooling around him.
The burnt hand pushed the gun into Lara's back, this time she acquiesced. She and Kurtis deftly move around the guard who'd served to activate the trap, noticing that neither of the guards even batted an eyelash. She briefly wondered if the man who lay dead was just someone desperate for money, like Kurtis. Then she realized that Kurtis wasn't pointing a gun at her, and she couldn't help but feel no emotion for the fallen soldier.
Inspecting the walls she could tell that there were no more spike traps and used her eyes to convey this to Kurtis. He nodded his head in comprehension before he realized she was deliberately keeping this information from the guards; they were still wary of the fate of their comrade and their caution gave Lara and Kurtis the upper hand.
They moved to the door in silence as the other guard shoved Kurtis. "Open it," Was all he said. Kurtis moved forward and placed his hand on the door and closed his eyes as a blue ray of light appeared from his shoulder and imprinted itself in the door, which slid open.
Lara had too check herself. She'd seen the spectacle before, but once again she found it utterly awesome. Clearly, she could tell, the guards did too, as they had to remind themselves to press their prisoners forward. They walked through the door, uncertain of what they would find.
Lara expected darkness. Perhaps she expected it only because darkness was the one thing she'd learned to count on, or perhaps because she really had no idea of what else was there. Nevertheless, she was surprised when she was greeted by light. It was not the bright light one experiences as though looking into the sun or a florescent light bulb; it was the ominous yellow-orange light of looking into fire. Or lava. A light Lara knew well.
Kurtis examined the room from where he stood. They stood on a platform of sorts in an alcove, which began at the door and resulted in a series of wide, descending platforms that formed steps, to a naturally carved bridge that led to ascending stairs before resulting in another alcove and another door. He peered over the edge with a sickening lurch in his stomach as he contemplated what would be a very long fall into a pit of what appeared to be liquid fire. He began to move step onto the stairs before he felt Lara's arm across his chest, holding him back. He looked at her confused while she just shook her head, and motioned towards the two guards. He followed her gaze and found that one was, unknowingly, stepping onto the first platform. A rumble was heard through the cavernous room as the man shook violently on the step, but disappeared as it dropped suddenly into the fire pit below. Two down, one to go. Lara thought grimly as she began to calculate a way across. She knew she could jump the gap left by the first step, but was unsure of the amount of time she'd have once there before it plunged into the abyss below.
A sharp poke at her back cut her deliberations short. "Go." The guard with the burnt hand demanded.
"I'm not sure that you are presently in any position to order me around." She chided before turning back to the dilapidated bridge. "Well, I guess we go across then. Be quick on your feet, though. I have no desire to find out what that is." She pointed down.
"This best not be one of your games, Ms. Croft. I'm loosing patience." The guard replied.
Lara only smiled as she leapt across the gap, ready to run. Miraculously, it held her weight. Kurtis, noticing this, jumped to land beside her. The step still held, even when the guard stood beside them. Confidence in the structure restored, the two prisoners and their sentinel walked cautiously down the remaining steps and onto the bridge.
They were nearly halfway across when a violent quake rippled through the framework. Lara glanced at Kurtis but he already knew her intent. Only seconds before the rock beneath them crumbled they had dashed to the opposite door. To their dismay, the guard was right with them. They sped over the bridge, feeling it collapse behind them, practically beneath them. As they threw themselves up the platform stairs they could feel their time running out and vaulted to the alcove, diving in near-perfect roll to reach safety as the stonework disappeared.
Lara and Kurtis sat catching their breaths in the relative safety of the doorway. Adrenaline coursing through their blood, Kurtis stared at Lara as she laughed before a loud groan reminded them of their armed escort. They moved to find him hanging on the edge, fingers slipping, threatening to fall to a fiery death. Neither Lara nor Kurtis made a move to help the guard, who started cursing them, his burnt hand sliding off the rock face.
"Loosing your patience?" Lara asked, innocently, the words of a previous venture in Rome once again resounding in her mind. "Well, don't let me hold you up." They turned to face yet another door as they heard a scream ricochet off the walls of the cavern.
A/N: well, hope that one is more enjoyed then the previous ones! Sorry about those references to Chronicles- I love that game, and I couldn't miss quoting that cutscene...
Thanks to NFI for beta reading, once again. Thanks also to Ellethiel, Carmie, Froggie, and NFI for their reviews, I really appreciate it!
Haven't begun writing the next chapter yet,and i'm entering intosome pretty intense sports training for school,so it may be a while (depending on how soreI am), we'll see...keep reviewing and maybe I'll be inspired...