Confrontation
He watched from the shadows as she entered the airlock. He emerged swiftly, jamming the doors before she could even react. She only just heard him though, and he watched as she turned to her now-locked entry. He thought he'd let his presence be none.
"You certainly have made a mess of things, haven't you."
"Who for, the stalker who stole my painting? What do you need with the painting?"
She certainly is feisty.
"Maybe I'll explain later, Ms. Croft. But for now I need to go and turn the power back on."
"Leaving me here." It was more of a statement than a question.
"You've caused enough problems over the last two days. Safer for everyone if you stay in one place for a while. You'll be OK in there."
"And this?" She thrust something against the wall; it took him only seconds to know what it was.
"My Periapt Shard! You…"
"Picked if up in the Louvre, yes." Not the adjective I was going for. "After you stole MY painting."
"All this can wait. I know where you'll be. Take a breather from damaging things, why dontcha." He saluted her, intending to drive her mad with his habitual farewell. He walked towards the door that he knew from the map would lead him, eventually, to the power supply.
Shit. She got out. He couldn't see her through the glass doors. Expecting the worst, and knowing if she was in there she would most likely be hostile, he withdrew his gun before pressing the button to open the doors.
He walked in, gun raised; slightly confused that she was no where near.
A feminine grunt startled him, and he turned quickly, gun pointed, only to he kicked away by her boot. Damn.
He watched patiently in what seemed like an extensive moment as she withdrew her own gun and aimed.
He didn't have time to sort the emotions. Mostly he believed she wouldn't shoot at all, but as the safety clicked off he realize she just might. Part of him just assumed to die by her hand than Eckhardt's, brief narcissistic moment influencing his lack of desire to die in such a grotesque fashion. Another Part of him welcomed the end, after all, what have I left to live for other than justice? And still, there was a part of him that refused to die, that he had to fulfill his duty at any cost.
He shut his eyes. It was more of an instinctual gesture, but when he heard the shot fire, he opened them, unsure if he had died instantly---or maybe she wasn't shooting at me…he turned, just in time to see one of the mutant-patients from the maximum containment area collapse with a gurgling sound that signified an end to its misery.
He returned to face her, her gun still trained on him.
"Thanks."
"glad you came back to save me stranger."
"Names Kurtis." He held out his hand to make an acquaintance, also serving the purpose to show that he was 'unarmed' and had no ulterior intentions.
"Lara. And this is business." She took his hand in a fluid motion which sent him against the opposite wall. Clearly she hadn't believed his impression of being defenseless.
"I owe you one." He tried in effort to show that he appreciated her earlier action.
"You owe me a painting." She interjected, simultaneously checking his side for any more concealed weapons.
"Sorry. That went AWOL at the Louvre." He noticed how her hands trailed seductively across his chest, and he briefly thought about a similar hand at the Louvre before realizing he'd preformed similar action on Lara. I've been 'disarmed' twice in the past week. That has to be a new record. Too bad my bed's been cold.
"What brings you here from Paris?" She asked as she unclipped his Chirugai and threw it on the floor, as though that's going to stop me from using it. As she asked the question, though, his mind thought back to what the woman in the Louvre had said, 'I'll need you two to work together'. He didn't know if he should trust her, but he recognized there was only one way to find out.
"Eckhardt. We have business that only one of us will walk away from. You?"
"Personal Reasons." Clearly 'she' never filled Lara in. Guess that's my job.
"Eckhardt plans to use all five Obscura Paintings to revive an ancient evil called The Sleeper and rebreed The Nephilim race." He moved towards her, confident that she wouldn't shoot him. "To do that he collects alchemically transmuted elements from his murder victims' bodies."
"I've seen him at work as the Monstrum. With that glove." She violently pushed him away with the barrel of her gun. So that's her 'personal reason'.
"Eckhardt is the original Black Alchemist." Her gun was beginning to annoy him, make him feel inferior and vulnerable. He twitched his fingers and his Chirugai clamoured to life. "and now he's very close to finding the last painting."
"Does he know where it is?" If the glaive frightened her, she didn't display it. He began encircling her, an effort to intimidate.
"Yes. It's hidden in a Lux Veritatis Vault beneath the Strahov. That painting must be destroyed and to do that, I need the Shard you picked up at the Louvre."
"There should be three Periapt Shards." She withdrew the one she had. He did likewise.
"Eckhardt has the last one. If all three shards are united they can destroy him permanently, so he keeps it safe."
"Tell me about the Shards."
"They are ancient weapons of the Lux Veritatis." He twirled the Shard out of habit, before assuming a dagger like grip on it. "Two of them were entrusted to my Father." He paused, realizing he'd dug a hole, and there was only one way to get out. He turned away from her lest he betray any emotion he wanted to keep hidden. "Eckhardt murdered him to stop them from passing into my hands." He shared a more knowledge than he'd been willing to impart, but any betrayal of his feelings was avoided. "He failed."
"So Eckhardt went after your father, and you want revenge."
His weapon flew to his hand "Justice!" She was beginning to get on his nerves, A little pretentious, aren't we? I've yet to hear your reasons.
"We should work together." She threw him the last shard and holstered her gun, an obvious sign of alliance.
He was a little disbelieving. "You're trusting me?"
"Here." She provided as an answer. "How can they be used to kill Eckhardt?"
"He must be stabbed with all three shards."
She began to encircle him, although intimidation he doubted was her motive; the walk serving instead as a stimulating thinking movement. "We can divide the forces against us if we split up." She pointed at him, "You need the third Shard so you should go after that. I'll find the last painting and destroy it."
He wasn't sure he trusted her with the retrieval and destruction of the painting, 'I'll need you two to work together.' "OK." It was his best option to agree. He turned and noticed that she had a map of the Strahov, which he recognized as the engraving from Vasiley's apartment. "Eckhardt guards the Shard in his old alchemy lab in the lower regions. I can find my way there."
"The Engraving shows the Painting hidden in something called the Vault of Trophies. Here." She pointed. "The entrance is underwater." She took his chin with her two fingers, a gesture he recognized as potentially flirtatious, but likewise signifying boastfulness. No problem." She turned and began to walk out, and he watched her rather shapely back depart before he set off to retrieve the last Shard.
A/N: woot, here's a longer one for all of you! yes, i left out the part about the sanitarium, mostly because its objective, we all know what happened there, and i wasn't planning on making in plot changes in that section. so for those of you looking forward to it, i apologize, but i hope you'llstay interested! it's going to get interesting from here!
thanks again to everyone who has read, and please review! (any comments/suggestions/rants/criticism/praise welcome and greatly appreciated!)
Thanks!
