13- Time To Make A Move
He walked with a confident step in this dark and endless corridor. He was absolutely empty of any kind of emotion. He knew there was only a few minutes left before the Svendsen's men would come after him, but he was not afraid. Nothing could be worse than what had just happened.
Unlike the other nights, the whole base was silent, or at least the prisoners' quarters were. Absolutely no cries for help, pain and agony could be heard. But he didn't head for the labs nor the prison cells. He headed straight for the Svendsen's personal cell, where he knew the glove was kept safe every night.
He crossed path with a first guard who came towards him with a threatening look. Before the man had time to point his weapon at him, Kurtis held his arm out. The gun and bullets veered off course, and befor the man had time to react, Kurtis pushed him against the wall and shot him in the head. Another soldier rushed to stand in front of the mercenary, but as he pulled the trigger, the chirugai unhooked from Kurtis' belt and charged straight at the enemy. It made a tight arc in the air, struck the man's weapon, which fell to the ground, before its sharp blades tore the man's jaw and a good part of his face.
It didn't take Kurtis long to get to the Svendsen's cell. He stood in front of the door and took a moment to concentrate, ignoring as best as he could all the noises around him. He heard some soldiers screaming at him in the distance. With a precise movement, and still guided by his mental energy, he brushed the lock and broke it. He gave another mental push, and the door swung open with a resounding noise. As he stepped into the cell, he saw Miranda and Tobias abruptly sitting up in bed in the next room, both taken by surprise in their sleep. With one hand, the mercenary sent a wave of energy in their direction: the two Norwegians found themselves propelled against the far wall, blocked by this super-powerful invisible force, unable to move.
After a quick look around, Kurtis then moved into the bedroom area. He quickly observed the couple staring at him with panicked eyes, before scanning the room again. Following his instinct, he walked around the bed and towards a door in the back of the bedroom, which apparently led to another very small room.
Still keeping the pressure on the couple who was struggling furiously, Kurtis then focused his attention on the armed door now facing him. There was an encrypted combination lock. He held out his free hand and fingers towards it. As he had done just before, he just focused on the metal, which suddenly creaked with an unpleasant noise. The door twisted suddenly, as if compressed in all directions by an invisible force, before unhooking and breaking open. As Kurtis had sensed, he entered a very small room, in which was nothing but a table, on which was Eckhardt's glove. The glass box which emprisonnée it gave way with no resistance and broke into thousands of pieces at his feet as the mercenary broke it. He heard Miranda cry out in surprise, but paid no attention to her, or even to the insults Tobias was shouting at him.
The leather and metal glove vibrated a little more as Kurtis grabbed it, as it did every time he reached for it. He slipped his arm into it and let the glove merge with him. When the cloth had closed completely over his skin, he felt the warmth and power of it more than ever. From the corner of his eyes, he suddenly saw Tobias Svendsen trying to reach for something. A gun. Kurtis tightened his fist in a firm and sharp movement, and Tobias's hand bent backwards against his forearm at a most unlikely angle. Flesh and bone clattered with a loud crack as his hand fell away completely, before falling limply back. The Norwegian's scream of pain pierced resonated in the small room.
He turned around. He retraced his steps to get out of the cell, and with one movement he sent the two Svendsen flying through the air and slammed them against the wall. They fell to the ground, now unconscious.
The mercenary heard voices in the corridor and footsteps approaching. Seeing a suit on a chair, grabbed it and went out. He walked out into the open, unaware of the soldiers who were gathering on either side of the corridor. They were gradually surrounding him, their weapons already pointed at him. He heard the click of the assault rifle safety catches.
A man shouted something to his right. But he ignored it completely. As the first shots rang out, a field of energy expanded and enveloped the American. He suddenly found himself completely protected in a kind of silver bubble, against which the bullets crashed one by one, before falling to the ground. The guns' noise was deafening in the narrow corridor, but Kurtis took a determined step forward. With a wave of his arm, he propelled the men shooting at his back into the air. He heard screams, and the clatter of weapons and bodies falling to the metal floor. In front of him a group of five or six men stood firmly. He snapped the neck of the nearest soldier, then made the skull the other three explode. The henchmen still in position looked at him helplessly as their weapons twisted and bent in their own hands. The mercenary then fired a powerful jet of energy in their direction, which pierced each of their chests in a great splash of blood.
Kurtis knew he didn't have much time. The soldiers were quite numerous, he had to be quick. After a few more steps, he was back in the prisoners' quarters. As he raised his arm once more to use an energy field, he was interrupted by a burst of bullets. He turned to the direction they were coming from, and directed the energy jet at the few men who were chasing him. The glove's light pierced one of them, leaving a gaping hole in his abdomen. The other one, who tried to dodge the energy, was not quick enough however. Kurtis sent him flying in the air like a rag doll. The soldier was propelled with such violence and force that he simply smashed in two against the corner of a wall some feet away, before collapsing to the ground in a sinister sound.
The last man still alive tried to retreat, but the energy jet stroke him in the head, his skull did not resist the shock. It exploded into a thousand pieces, leaving large, gloomy marks on the surrounding way was clear for now.
Kurtis resumed his walk, until he reached the prisoners' cells eventually. He took a look at all the armoured doors around him, and concentrated again. He closed his eyes for a moment, letting his instincts and the warmth of the glove carry him through. He took a deep breath and slowly raised his arm in front of him. He took the time to feel every inch of metal, every door, every spark of life that was kept prisoner behind each of them. He felt the glove vibrate against his skin. He lowered his arm, and a wave of energy swept across the corridor like a tsunami. The walls around shook dangerously, and one by one, the cells' doors exploded with a deafening noise. There were a few brief seconds of almost unreal silence as the energy wave passed, as if the world had suddenly stopped turning.
Suddenly sirens sounded all around Kurtis, and the previously dim light was replaced by small flashing red lights. A thick cloud of dust blurred his vision, But all the cell doors were now on the floor. The young man heard voices and whispers, and started seeing the first prisoners coming out. Men, women, survivors of the experiments, looking terrified and lost. One man crawled out of his cell on all fours, still shaken by what had just happened, and another rushed out to see what was going on. But Kurtis' attention was diverted by the footsteps he heard coming from behind him. When he turned round, some armed men were coming to him. He was still protected by the energy field, but he didn't know how long it would work. Above his head, he suddenly noticed a large metal pipe sticking out of the ceiling. He imagined himself grabbing the pipe, and mentally pulling it down. The metal creaked dangerously.
The pipe was heavy and thick, and resisted at first the pressure the young man was exerting on it. Kurtis's face tensed a little more. The first bolt popped out, and the metal twisted to one side. Far away into the corridor, the Svendsen's men were getting ready to shoot at him at any moment, but he tried not to let himself be destabilized. The henchmen were now very close by. With his other hand he tried to send another energy wave in their direction to delay them.
The group found themselves on the ground, and Kurtis let out a grunt as he finally ripped the pipe from his concrete ceiling at the very same moment. The structure around him suddenly shook, the walls collapsed in a huge cloud of dust, closing the passage and thus preventing enemies to come forward.
The mercenary fell to his knees and tried to catch his breath. He could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest. The energy field around him faded and disappeared, as it was directly linked to his own energy. The mercenary slowly stood up, and made his way to the cells he had just opened. Some of the people had already gathered and were watching him closely, he could see the terror in their eyes. Without a word, he signalled for them to evacuate the area. Too scared to stand up to him, they started to walk away in the dark. Kurtis walked down the corridor and took the time to check each cell one by one. He led the prisoners out, sending them towards the entrance to the base. When he came to the last cell, he found himself facing the adventuress, who was still sitting on her mattress. She looked up at him, obviously a little bit stunned. She tried to stand up and gave him a questioning look.
"What are you doing?"
He walked over to her and handed her the suit he had retrieved from the Svendsen's room.
"I'm getting us outta here."
The young woman looked at the mercenary, then at the shining glove around his arm, and finally at the suit he was handing her. She caustiously grabbed the clothes and put them on quickly. She straightened up to get back on her legs, but she couldn't quite stand, her abdomen was still terribly sore. Without waiting for her agreement, the mercenary grabbed her by the waist and placed her arm on his shoulders to support and help her walk. Before she could retaliate, Kurtis moved in and dragged her out of the cell.
The underground base was in total chaos. The constant and steady sound of the alarms was deafening, and the red light gave the place a particularly eerie atmosphere. The two adventurers caught up with some of the prisoners who, exhausted, were desperately trying to make their way to the exit. Then they heard a series of gunshots. A little further ahead of them, the prisoners had gathered into a recess corner, Kurtis led them here to take cover too. They were close to the entrance checkpoints, but some soldiers were now targeting them and firing at them. Unfortunately, some prisoners were already lying on the floor, obviously mowed down by bullets.
Kurtis suddenly let go of Lara and took the lead. The young woman watched in amazement the energy field reforming around him. A very strange light emanated from Eckhardt's glove. A sort of flame, with an extremely bright blue colour. One of the soldiers fired a burst of bullets in his direction. Lara took cover with some of the other prisoners. When she looked up, she saw a gigantic flame burst out of the glove and spread in an impressive wave that overwhelmed the checkpoints. The blue fire burnt absolutely everything in the airlock. She heard the agonised cries of some trapped soldiers, before a rock from the ceiling suddenly collapsed and silenced them forever.
The few survivors who were still alive began to run around in panic, trying to find their way out. Lara tried to calm them down and gather them. She saw Kurtis pointing to a large sliding door a little further on.
"The hangars!", he shouted.
The young man rushed to the metal door and slid it open with another jet of energy. The group of prisoners rushed inside. Lara followed the last ones before rushing into the hangars, closely followed by Kurtis. Luckily most of the base's vehicles were parked there: Lara recognised the snowmobiles, but also the trucks in which the prisoners had been brought from the freighter to the base. Kurtis ran to the nearest truck. In one corner he noticed cabinets and crates full of equipment and clothing. He motioned to the prisoners.
"Take the suits!"
They all complied without a word. Lara saw Kurtis jump and sit onto the driver seat. The adventuress helped some of the weakened people into the truck and recognised Hiromi, whom she had met on the freighter.
"Are you really getting us out of here this time?", asked the young Asian woman.
"A promise is a promise."
The two young women exchanged a quick and pale smile. The Englishwoman closed the rear doors, and rushed to the vehicle front. As she climbed in to join Kurtis, a bullet grazed her hand. They heard gunfires. Behind them, a group of armed men had just appeared in the hangar. The truck's engine suddenly roared.
"C'me on, get in!", she heard Kurtis shout.
Lara jumped onto the passenger seat as the truck was already moving off. Luckily there was a Kalashnikov lying at the foot of her seat, which she grabbed without hesitation. She put the strap around her and leaned out of the door which was not yet closed. She held on to the truck with her free hand and found herself suspended into the void. The the group of men was already far as they picked up speed, but she took aim and fired. One of the men collapsed, the others retreated slightly.
The light suddenly dimmed around them. They had just entered some kind of tunnel that was undoubtedly to lead them to the outside. Lara suddenly felt Kurtis pulling her backwards. She tried to turn to him.
"Take cover!", he said eagerly.
She didn't think. She swung into the cabin and folded her legs inside, just as the mercenary sent the truck into the hangar door at full speed. There was a terrible, deafening crash, people in the back screamed as the truck jerked violently into the metal wall. The two adventurers were thrown forward. They heard the metal rubbing dangerously against the front of the truck, then against its sides. Door debris flew into the air, and they finally reached the pristine white exterior.
They were now outside the base, and free. However after a few feet only, Kurtis slammed on the brakes and sent the truck skidding into the snow. They came to a screeching halt. Lara watched him open the door and get out of the vehicle.
"Kurtis!"
But the young man did not look back. He walked into the snow and came closer to the hangar's door they had just blown open. The air was freezing and the snow was falling heavily, they would have no trouble covering their tracks. But there was one thing he had to do.
He stopped, and seemed not to move for several seconds. From where she was, Lara finally saw him reach out his arm in front of him, slowly. He stood firmly on his two legs, his eyes fixed on the scientific base that was barely visible in the raging snowstorm. The energy that was forming through the glove was so powerful he could feel his own blood boiling in his veins. The walls in front of him began to shake and make shrill sounds as the concrete cracked. The mercenary let himself be carried away by the movement of the structure, which he could feel twisting under his mental strength. Much further into the base, he felt the metal walls breaking one by one. Pipes collapsed into the corridors, taking the walls with them and condemning the underground tunnels. Kurtis tightened his already painfully tight fingers a little more. His arm began to tremble as he sent his energy into the building to destroy it. There was a tremor, which made the ground beneath his feet shake. It did not come from the base itself, but from deep within the earth. In this very moment, he delivered the coup de grace, plunging into the recesses of his mind. With his hand he gave one last push, and the walls suddenly exploded in all directions before him, rising high in the freezing air, before falling heavily into thousand of pieces to the ground and snow.
There was a monstrous cracking sound, and then total silence for a split second. Kurtis fell to his knees in the snow, drained of strength. The earth shook again, much harder this time, and the base slowly collapsed in on itself. They heard the blocks of stone clattering together. A huge cloud of snow rose up. Lara jumped out of the truck and ran to Kurtis to help him up. But just as she was about to put her hands on him, the young man, on all fours, reached out to stop her.
"Don't come near me, I don't know if I can control it completely."
She watched the glove carefully as it spread strange brown marks into the snow, where the mercenary's hand was. Lara just waited there, and let Kurtis get up with difficulty and get back on his feet by himself. Then they slowly returned to the truck. Kurtis got back to the driver seat, and Lara went to sit next to him. They drove off at a leisurely pace through the thick fog. When Lara took one last look in the rear-view mirror, far behind them she saw orange flames rising from the white snow. High, threatening flames, as bright as hell.
—
It took them almost two hours to reach the docking port and the cargo ship. Kurtis stopped the truck in a controlled skid before turning off the engine. They both got out in a hurry and went to open the back doors to free the prisoners. They lowered them carefully and gathered them into a tight group. Lara took a quick look at the large ship, which seemed strangely quiet. She felt Kurtis' gaze on her.
I'll follow you, he told her.
She nodded slightly, and turned to the group of survivors, especially Hiromi.
"Stay here, okay? We're just going to make sure everything's safe, we'll be back for you in a few minutes."
Lara put a comforting hand on the young woman's shoulder, before turning away. She went to grab the Kalashnikov she had left in the truck and joined Kurtis, who looked exhausted. She gave him a serious look, feeling now a bit worried about him.
"Don't mind me," he said coldly.
Boran X in hand, he beckoned her forward. They discovered a truck parked a little further away, as well as several bodies lying on the ground, scattered all over the quay and the gangway. After a quick check, they both understood that they were Svendsen's henchmen, who had been shot down. The young woman's heart skipped a beat as she thought of Diego. She pressed on and climbed the gangway that led to the deck.
The boat was silent and deserted. She recognized the body of one of the sailors she had shot before leaving, now completely frozen and covered in snow. She turned to Kurtis.
"Fetch the prisoners and bring them aboard."
The young man complied without a word. Lara went up to the captain's cabin, but nothing had moved since she left. She went back down to the deck to join the first prisoners who were boarding and gathering.
"Diego?", she shouted.
She headed for the back stairs, the one that led down to the crew cabins and the ship's holds. She found the body of the second sailor they had killed with Diego, still lying at the bottom of the narrow staircase.
"Diego, are you there?"
No answer. The young woman suddenly felt her heart clench at the thought that the old man had not survived. She got back to the group and to Kurtis.
"I'm going to take a look around the cabins to make sure there's no one else."
The young man didn't answer and simply looked away. Lara readjusted the strap of her rifle around her, and silently returned to the bottom of the boat. She went down the metal staircase, her gun pointed before her. She passed over the body of the dead sailor before reaching the ship's basement. She felt a movement at her back, and realised Kurtis was right behind her.
"I didn't ask you to come with me."
"Two unconscious hotheads are better than one."
Skeptical of the look the mercenary gave her, Lara chose to ignore his remark and resumed her progress. They both entered the narrow corridor that led to the cabins.
"Diego?"
They heard a rustle somewhere in one of the cabins ahead of them. Lara tightened her fingers around her gun, ready to fire. They heard heavy footsteps echoing on the metal. One of the doors creaked as it opened, and the old man finally appeared in the corridor a few feet away. His tired, emaciated face suddenly lit up as his gaze suddenly fell upon the two adventurers.
"Lara!"
Kurtis raised his gun and aimed, pointing it between the old man's eyes. Lara took a firm grip on his hand and forced him to lower his weapon. With a look, she told him not to move and wait. The American reluctantly complied, clearly distrustful. Lara let go of him and moved towards Diego.
"Dear God, Lara!"
They embraced each other tightly. She felt the old man hug her warmly.
"I'm glad to see you're alive. I was feeling hopeless to see you again…"
"So was I."
They parted. Lara looked down at his bleeding shirt.
"It's all right, don't worry," Diego told her. "I've managed to cauterize the wound. It'll make a nice scar, but at least it's clean."
"I suppose you had some visitors?"
"As expected, a group came for the food and supplies, but I was waiting for them. They obviously had no intention of doing me any favours, so I didn't do them any."
They smiled at each other with gentleness and amusement. The old man's eyes watched her from head to toe. She knew she looked terrible.
"Look at you... Who did this to you? Did they?"
He turned and his dark gaze suddenly met Kurtis's clear, distraught eyes as he holstered his gun.
"Are you the one who did this to her?"
"No, I-"
"No, Diego. This is Kurtis," the adventuress said in a flat, emotionless voice as she pointed vaguely at the mercenary.
"Oh...", replied the Argentine, who sat up, surprised.
He took a step towards the American and held out his hand to him. His face was suddenly much more friendly and inviting.
"So I'm finally meeting you in person. Lara didn't tell me her husband was American," the old man said jockingly.
Kurtis could not hide his surprise, his eyebrows slightly raised. He took the man's hand and shook it cautiously, almost warily. The old man gave him a friendly smile, but couldn't help glancing at the glove still on his arm. The American glared at Lara, who could hardly hide her embarrassment either. She felt her cheeks turn red, and preferred to look away.
"I'll explain everything later, Diego, once we're safe," she said to change the subject. "First of all, we have to find a way to leave, as soon as possible."
"Everything is already ready."
Lara frowned and gave him a questioning look.
"I didn't wait for you to do some tinker."
The adventuress shook her head, as if she couldn't believe her ears. She turned to the mercenary.
"We'll go and get the survivors to put them in the cabins here."
They walked back to the deck and after a few moments, the first prisoners appeared eventually. Few of them had survived. Lara counted barely twenty people. Diego, followed by several volunteers and Kurtis, went back on deck to prepare the boat for departure. Lara took charge of putting the people in the cabins, which were just numerous enough to accommodate them all. She was joined by Diego and Kurtis, who brought food and water for everyone.
"I think we're ready to go," the young woman said.
"Good. I'm going to take over the controls," announced Diego, who looked rather serene. "We might as well not waste any more time in this sinister place. Have you found a cabin for yourselves?"
Lara shook her head, not sure she wanted to understand the meaning of those words.
"You two should get some rest," the old man told them, glancing insistently at the young woman, then at the young man behind her. "All the cabins are full. I mean, I'm all alone in mine, and there's this young Asian woman who's all alone too, so maybe we can-"
"That won't be necessary," the adventuress cut him off abruptly. "I'll go with Hiromi."
A cold blankness settled over them. Kurtis watched Lara wordlessly, his piercing blue gaze fixed on her. The young woman turned her head, unable to bear it anymore.
"Okay, fine. As you wish," replied the Argentine, visibly embarrassed.
"Is everything ready?", Lara asked with eagerness.
The old man nodded. The Englishwoman started walking and headed for the stairs to the upper deck.
"Let's go, then!", she shouted over her shoulder.
—
After the first few hours of sailing, Lara left Kurtis and Diego to manage the command post and to rest for a few hours. When she arrived in her cabin, the young Hiromi was sitting on one of the one benches, her legs crossed. She was staring into space, and seemed to be chewing on a piece of food. She looked up at the Englishwoman and suddenly seemed to come back to life.
"Is everything all right?", she asked.
"Yes," said Lara, surprised by such a direct question. "Well, I think so. But it's more my place to ask you if everything's all right."
A shy smile appeared on the Asian woman's face. She shrugged slightly.
"It's okay. You got us out of there, it can only get better now. Some of us didn't make it... I could have died there too..."
Hiromi's face suddenly darkened, and her eyes filled with tears. Lara came and sat down next to her.
"Did they do things to you too?", the Asian asked softly.
Lara's eyes met hers. She couldn't help but think of what had happened last night. The pain. The blood. She fought hard to keep those images away, as she preferred not to think about it for the moment. She just couldn't. She took a breath, not sure what she was supposed to answer exactly.
"Yes. But as you said we're all safe now, and that's the most important thing."
"Ben is dead, isn't he?"
Lara looked at the tired young woman with dark circles under her eyes. Tears began to roll down her cheeks.
"I really liked him."
The young woman was unable to hold back the sob that was stuck in her throat.
"I'm sorry, Hiromi," the adventuress said as she took her in her arms.
"Sorry, I don't want to bother you with my stories," she said when they finally parted. "I'll go outside for a walk, get some fresh air, so you can have some privacy."
Lara didn't know what she was talking about until she noticed the young woman was looking at something behind her. When she followed the young woman's gaze and turned around, she discovered Kurtis was there, standing in the doorway, silently watching them. Before she could stop her, Hiromi had already left the small room and disappeared. Lara felt the young man's piercing gaze on her, but before he could open his mouth to speak, she stood up quickly and left the room too.
"Go get some rest if you want, I'll take over with Diego for a few hours," she told him as she passed him by.
Before he had time to say anything, she had already disappeared.
—
The atmosphere was strangely warm and cosy in the command cabin. Diego looked quite confortable in his new duties, and felt as if he was steering his own boat. The adventuress felt kind of happy about that, as she had left him in a very bad shape. But she was glad to see that he had quickly got back on his feet. The old Argentinian gave her a radiant smile when he saw her join him.
"Glad to see you've come back in one piece."
The young woman gave him a pale smile and walked over to Diego to sit beside him. She suddenly felt like retorting that she wasn't quite in one piece, but she thought better of it.
"It was even worse than we thought, and worse than what happened in Puerto Deseado," she told him as she fought against her memories from the previous night. "The facilities and equipment were much more advanced than when they had set up the lab in Argentina. So the experiments could be much more extensive, of course taking up what Bickenbach had been working on relentlessly."
Diego gave her a serious look.
"This is about genetic modification, isn't it?"
"The Svendsens were planning to use a weapon created by Eckhardt to create a superior human race."
"I thought everything related to Eckhardt was destroyed? How did they do that?"
"I thought so too," the adventuress replied bitterly. "They used Kurtis to find the object they needed."
Diego looked away to the distant horizon.
"And to think that all these innocent people died for this... for the simple greed and thirst for power of people who think they are above all else... for the madness of a handful of some men... sometimes I wonder what kind of world we live in...", he murmured.
"Me too, Diego. I ask myself the very same question every day."
She put a friendly hand on the old man's shoulder and he gave her a comforting smile.
"You look terrible, you should get some rest. Go and enjoy your reunion with your husband."
"We'll see about that later," the young woman answered abruptly and cynically.
The Argentinean gave her a questioning look.
"Is everything all right?"
"It couldn't be better," the Englishwoman retorted, now looking away.
Diego observed the adventuress' reaction carefully, but didn't answer. He understood soon enough what was going on between them, and that made Lara a little uncomfortable.
"Take one of the walkie-talkies, I'll call you if I need you."
She inwardly thanked the old man for not insisting. She complied and headed for the door. Before leaving, however, she turned back to the old man.
"Diego-"
"He died over there, didn't he?"
Her gaze met the two small black eyes that were now shining on the man's face. She nodded slowly, and what she read on his face surprised her. Sadness, but above all a certain form of relief. Against all odds, he gave her a radiant smile, albeit one that was bathed in tears. He shook his head slightly, and the adventuress walked out without a sound.
—
When she went downstairs and passed by Diego's cabin, she saw Kurtis lying on his back with one arm folded over his face. He seemed to be sleeping. The young woman was about to call out to him to wake him up, but then she thought better of it, preferring to let him rest for a while. Just as she was about to turn around and go on her way, the young man moved. He lowered his arm and his blue eyes met the adventuress'.
"It served us well, but you can take it off now," she said implacably.
The mercenary stretched and sat up slowly. He glanced at the young woman standing in the doorway, her arms tightly crossed over her chest. He saw that her gaze was fixed on the glove he was still wearing.
"I know. It's just that... It's the only place where I can keep it safe for now."
They looked at each other for some long seconds. Then, without warning, Lara suddenly turned around and walked away. Thinking that she had simply cermonized him as usual, and believing that she would not return, the mercenary lay back down. But just as he closed his eyes, he felt something fall on him. A soft, relatively light object. He opened his eyes and discovered with surprise that Lara was back at the doorway and had thrown a burlap bag to him. Understanding her idea, the young man undid one by one the leather straps that held the gauntlet to his arm. Lara watched him slowly remove the object. It was so tight it had left deep marks on the young man's skin. She watched him handle the glove carefully and place it in the bag. He closed it, and placed it on the small side table beside his bed.
"What do we do now?", the Englishwoman asked.
Kurtis took a look at the bag.
"We have to find a way to destroy it."
"With the shards?"
"No. And I don't think we can destroy it with the periapt sword either..."
"We no longer have it anyway," Lara told him coldly.
Kurtis shook his head.
"The Lux Veritatis never knew the exact composition of the glove, only Eckhardt did. It was his creation, he mastered it better than anyone else, and if there is one person who could have destroyed it, it's him."
"Okay, great, so give Eckhardt a call, then."
Kurtis gave her a murderous look.
"D'you think it's funny?"
She pouted.
"I wish it was. How do we proceed then?", she asked more seriously this time.
The mercenary straightened up. At first angry and upset, his features gradually softened to a more impassive look. Turning his attention to his aching arm, he bent and unfolded his fingers to get the blood flowing again in his joints. He sighed.
"I'm not sure exactly, but I may have found something. Something that might give us clues on how to destroy it once and for all."
After a long silence, Lara finally sat down opposite him on Diego's bed. She leaned forward slightly, her elbows resting on her thighs, concentrated on the mercenary's words.
"Miranda kept quite a few documents in her personal archive. A whole bunch of things relating to their experiments, of course, but also much older documents. Archives dating back to the Bickenbach for instance..."
He sat down a little better and leaned against the wall behind him.
"... and she kept a copy of Eckhardt's diary, which I imagine was made by Bickenbach at the time."
"Were you able to access it?"
"It wasn't easy, but yes," said Kurtis. "I had to go back and forth on it. I found quite a few things, things that complemented what we had already found in the Sleeper's Scrolls. But from a dark chemistry point of view, of course."
"I can only imagine he had written down all his experiments and research since the beginning of his activity, and since his meeting with the Nephili."
"Exactly," confirmed the mercenary. "But I also discovered something I had never known before. An unknown alchemical element, with which the glove was created."
"Prima Materia?"
Kurtis frowned.
"How d'you know that?"
Lara shrugged a shoulder.
"I did my little investigation while you were away."
She stared at Kurtis with her big brown eyes, as if to point out the silence at that very moment, and to make the mercenary feel the understatement behind her sentence.
"Since I had no news from you, I took the liberty of making an excursion to the Svendsen's villa in Oslo, and I found quite a few interesting things there too. Documents from the time when Bickenbach worked with Eckhardt. It's a small world, Kristina Boaz's mother worked with them."
"Wait, what?"
"I'm not kidding. She was Bickenbach's personal assistant, and even if she doesn't know about it, she's the one who helped me make the connection with Eckhardt."
Kurtis shook his head slightly, as if appalled that everything was all connected that way.
"And so Boaz mother led you to the base here?"
"Not exactly. I followed the Nazi trail and the Svendsen's inglorious past, which all led me here. Well, to Argentina in the first place. Diego took me to the first base set up by Bickenbach. There I found complete records of what had happened in Antarctica. Ironically enough, the name of the project is named after one of the celestial points you have on your back..."
The mercenary ran a hand down his back without even realizing it.
"I didn't manage to retrieve everything unfortunately," Lara continued, "but the term Prima Materia appeared in several notes, coupled with several other chemical elements and formulas."
"Potassium, iron, copper and phosphorus, I suppose?"
"That's right," she confirmed.
"These are the basic elements that were used to forge the glove, and those that made up the Sanglyph. Prima Materia is obviously the basic element of the glove, the one without which it cannot work. The most important element of all, the one that the Lux Veritatis did not know existed, used by the Nephili before Eckhardt himself."
Lara's face became even more serious.
"Is that what they injected you with? That's why you're able to manipulate it?"
"It's very likely," Kurtis answered, running a hand over his day-old beard. "Something has changed in me since..."
"What do you mean?"
"My powers have evolved."
Kurtis glanced around absentmindedly, a little lost. He suddenly felt overwhelmed by all that had happened.
"Besides being able to use the glove, I'm much more powerful than before, much stronger. You saw it yourself."
Lara lowered her gaze, as if it would help her think better.
"Miranda said only beings with exceptional skills could properly receive these injections. Only humans who were already resistant could survive... I guess it only increased the powers you already have."
The young woman felt her heart skip a beat, as if she had just tipped over into the void. She suddenly looked the American straight in the eye.
"They injected me with it too."
"What?", he asked hastily.
"They injected me with something... I'm sure it was this too."
Kurtis sat up in a panic. Lara looked away, and closed her eyes for a moment.
"When?"
"It doesn't matter," she retorted angrily. "All that matters now is that we both have a powerful black alchemy element in our blood."
Lara finally looked up, and fell back against the wall, her hands crossed behind her neck. She stared at a point on the ceiling, and try to think, but she couldn't.
"All this doesn't tell us how to destroy the glove...", she muttered.
"No. But surely there are clues in what I found in Eckhardt's journal."
"More clues about this Prima Materia?"
"Not directly."
Lara frowned, not sure she understood his point. The mercenary then took out from one of his pockets his small travel journal, which he flipped through quickly, before handing it to the adventuress. There were reproductions of the Obscura paintings. She frowned a little more and shook her head.
"Just before he was taken prisoner and locked up in Kriegler Castle, Eckhardt divided his most powerful weapon into five parts. Five paintings he painted himself, in which he hid each element that made up the Sanglyph. Five elements, five paintings. He had them hidden all over the world, so that the Lux Veritatis could not get hold of them. But the knights of the time found them. To be on the safe side, they called in a monk from an ancient order allied with the Lux Veritatis to cover the original paintings and hide them in a safe place. A work of almost a decade, which was entrusted to the monk Jehan de Gruas, who also made engravings of these paintings to locate the original paintings, as you already know."
Lara nodded to indicate she followed his reasoning.
"I studied each engraving during my Lux Veritatis training, and I know every single detail of these paintings. And yet, in the reproductions I found in Eckhardt's journal, they were different. There was a detail missing that was not in the paintings I know. On each of them there was some kind of quotation. Taken together, they don't seem to form a coherent sequence or a precise text, but rather extracts from a much larger one."
The young man turned a few pages and showed the adventuress the sentences he had written down.
"Spears and axes and swords in the Garden of Eden, that dripped blood on the green grass of the plains, on the edge of the reign of Evil and Hate."
"And His Angels were cast down with Him, Far into the lost and darkest Lands of the World. Far in the desert land of Ancient Gods they hid, Fearing the Divine Light."
"Cast from Darkness and formed of Night Fears, the Horror approaches."
"With the Eternal and His Angels He fought, and Peace on Earth they maintained."
"From the corpses, the blood and the pain, Two Beings rose. This Dark War they had survived, And into the Light they stood."
Lara looked lost. She pointed one of the sentences though.
"Cast from Darkness and formed of Night Fears, the Horror approaches."
"That sentence..."
"It was in the Sleeper's scrolls, yes," Kurtis confirmed before the young woman had time to ask her question.
"The Enochian Gospel. I don't understand, why would it be hidden in the paintings?"
"I dunno. Maybe it's something else."
"An extract from a text or a document? Could there be something other than the Sleepers' scrolls?"
Kurtis shook his head in denial, also confused. Lara read the other sentences again.
"All the others don't ring a bell. But what would the connection be with Prima Materia and the glove? Do you think it could be a text that would tell us how to destroy it?"
"Maybe. Well, I dunno. But it gives us an idea of where to start looking."
"So you're suggesting we should go after the paintings? They've all been destroyed, and even the engravings-"
"I know, but that's not what I'm talking about", Kurtis cut her off, a little upset. "Even with the original versions we wouldn't have any more clues anyway, I think."
They looked at each other.
"The paintings point to something other than the Sanglyph obviously."
"But it's only speculation, that's risky," the adventuress murmured.
"No more risky than what we just experienced here," the mercenary told her. "We have no choice but to go where we can find even the smallest clue."
Lara stood up and their eyes met again.
"We have to go where it all began," the young man concluded.