Bio-Research Facility, Strahov
Using his pass card, he entered the biodome, and, still clad in the Agency standard uniform, he met no trouble.
The bio-research facility was laden with awkward looking plants, some sort of genetic mutilation, he thought as he walked carefully amongst some fierce-looking shrubbery. Within the first Greenhouse a short, round man groomed some plants, jumping at the noise of his footsteps, but otherwise he hardly acknowledged him.
He continued into the next greenhouse. Several tank-like apparatuses lined a platform in the center of the room, a series of genetically manipulated carcasses occupying them. He noticed two peculiar looking specimen in the final tanks, disturbing creatures really. He shrugged them off and hoped he didn't have to deal with any such mutations, at least not today.
He walked up the stairs to the door on the opposite end of the room, it opened without flaw due to some pressure-sensitive tile in the floor, he imagined.
He walked forward onto a catwalk situated high in a multi-level greenhouse. There were a few guards littered about on various other catwalks, all lower within the structure; he was confident that they had no vantage point from which they could view him. He looked down at some vicious looking plants before noticing a computer-system sitting vacant on an empty platform adjacent to the catwalk. Quickly enough as a man with a purpose, yet slowly enough so not to attract unwanted attention, he moved to the desk. He booted the system and shortly thereafter uncovered a more detailed map of the Strahov than that found in the preceding area.
Committing the map to memory, he noticed immediately where the final periapt shard would be, the lower regions where Eckhardt's lab could be found. He skimmed the rest of the map, noticing also where the main power was located and where the fifth painting presumably rested.
He jumped when he heard the safety of a gun click off by his ear. Nice job. A normal person's heart would have accelerated, adrenaline pumping through the veins, but he clearly wasn't normal, his heart-rate ridiculously even as the gun pushed against his ear and urged him to stand up. He obliged, simultaneously trying to consider his situation and the best means of his escape.
Suddenly, the lights in the bio-dome flickered before extinguishing, the computer screen in front of him dying as the power was, presumably, shut down. Within seconds the generators kicked on, but it had provided enough of a distraction for him to turn around, knocking the gun out of the assailant's hand before using his muscles to send a surprisingly small frame against the railing. Given the circumstances, it would have been wise for him to throw the offending body over the rail, but there was something about the feminine grunt that changed his mind; instead, he ran to the door on the opposite side of the catwalk, through the door, down the stairs. Had he looked back, he would have seen the body stir, the lithe figure of a trim woman standing up, her light brown hair haphazardly framing her face as her hands rubbed the side of her head and she simultaneously sheathed her gun beneath her jacket. Had he looked back, he may have seen her large, steely-gray eyes narrow after his fleeing body. But he didn't.
Instead he ran down several flights of stairs until, confident that he was not being pursued, he slowed down. He entered a corridor apparently adjacent to the bio-research dome he was previously in, but hearing encroaching footsteps he ducked into a small storage room. He analyzed the situation as he shed the agency uniform. They know there's an intruder now; no use running around in this piece of shit anyways Croft must have shut off the power….I wonder who that was? His thoughts trailed briefly to the figure he'd disarmed a few moments earlier before he heard deep voices speaking in a Czech-German fusion.
"The power was deactivated in the Control Room by sector A. There is an intruder."
"What sectors were affected?"
"All of them, but the generators have restored power to the majority of Sector B."
"And the Maximum Containment Area?"
"The power was restored to Sectors E and F, but not soon enough. There's damage, and Boaz's poodle is running loose."
He listened as the voices faded. He didn't know what 'Boaz's poodle' was, and he had no intention of finding out if it could be avoided. So Croft is in. Let's make sure she doesn't cause any more damage until we get the power back on. He watched the airlocks opposite the storage closet, an idea of how to detain her forming in his head. Out of habit, he reached to his pocket for his cigarettes, and grunting a little when he realized he had none left, he returned to watching, waiting in silence.
A/N: i know alot of my reviewers, which i am very grateful for, have let me know they want the chapters to be longer...they are a little short, but i'll try to make them longer in the upcoming updates...
anyways, thanks to the reviewers (to whom i'm responding via the email/pm configuration is running) and please keep reading!
thanks to everyone, and dont forget to review!
