Arena

The harsh impact with the concrete floor of the arena jostled him awake. Damn. So much for not getting caught, Trent. He slowly stood up, pushing Lara, who offered him a hand, away. Either she got caught too, or she got the painting…he glanced up to see the painting in Eckhardt's hand. Damn.

"Gunderson, release Boaz" wasn't she the one from the biodome? He regained his full height, still clutching his arm, as a hangar door to his right opened, revealing a hideous creature. "This old Colleague of mine was once a human, before she displeased me."

Eckhardt began to move away from the platform, Gunderson by his side. He hastily withdrew his Boran X to target Eckhardt, but to no avail; the target was out of sight.

"Not you Muller, you Useless piece of Dross! You failed me too!"

He switched positions with Lara as the bumbling fat man fell from the platform. Both of them targeted him and watched as the creature 'Boaz' attacked. But he was distracted by another voice from the platform.

"And you." He heard Eckhardt say from an invisible location atop the platform.

"Don't you dare!" a familiar, breathy voice with an American accent rang out. Her.

"You are not loyal to this organization, and are not fit to continue in this operation. Gunderson!"

He watched as the figure of a trim woman fell from the railing. He watched as her reflexes secured her a spot hanging from the railing by her hands before she let go, landing on her feet mere spaces in front of them. She shook her light brown hair from her face and revealed two steely gray eyes.

She looked up at them as she stood; he saw her expression clearly evident of her comprehension of the situation. In them she had two armed opponents, and flanking her opposite side was the creature. Suddenly her expression changed as her face grew hardened and serious, her arm removing a desert ranger from under her jacket, she never stopped looking at them as she cocked it, but seemed to shrug as she turned to face the creature, her gun targeted.

"Who the hell are you?" Lara asked the woman.

"Look. We don't have time for pleasantries." The woman called over her shoulder, "Now that Eckhardt has the last painting, he's going to retrieve the sanglyph and attempt to revive the sleeper. There isn't much time left." She looked at them over her shoulder, her gun never wavering. "One of you has to go and stop him. I'll need help bringing this bitch down."

"So you want one of us to stay with you? You have got to be kidding me."

"Honestly, she's going to kill you a lot faster than I can. And I'm on your side!"

"She's right" he finally contributed.

"What? Are you mad?" Lara switched her gaze.

"No. Trust me, okay? Come on, I'll give you a boost" using his telekinesis, he pushed Lara so she reached the platform, not forgetting the ringing shots from the woman's desert ranger that provided effective cover.

"Kurtis, quick!"

"Here! Take these two!"

"These are your speciality Kurtis."

"Don't worry about Ugly Here, Go on! You're wasting time; we can take care of her."

"I hope you know what you're doing."

He didn't even watch as Lara ran to follow Eckhardt. He'd turned back to the creature, moving to the woman's side, who'd not stopped firing at the beast.

"Aim for the head, and when she starts shooting, aim for the pods."

"Okay."

His Boran X matched her Desert Ranger in both ferocity and damage, and soon the creature was spewing an iridescent green substance. Only then did she break her rapid string of bullets.

"Quick, aim for the pods on the left." He did as instructed, moving closer to the creature to get a proper angle. He'd taken out the far one, and had moved to target the closer one, when the creature roared violently, turning to face and attack him before he had the opportunity to react. In mere seconds the creature, with her scythe like fangs, had lunged at him, the impact sending him rolling backwards, a deep gash across his stomach caused by the sharp appendage. He grunted with the impact, hastily retreating from the creature as he stood up, only to join the woman's bullets once again. The creature resorted to catapulting the green slime at them more rapidly this round, but before he could target the pod this time, the woman had hit it with her own bullets. The creature reared up, arching its back and convulsing several times before collapsing on the floor.

He dropped his gun.

"That-wasn't-so-hard" he said to the body that was once the creature, but intending it for no one in particular. He turned, anxious to get some questions out of the woman.

"Wait for it."

"Huh?" he turned as a large, dilapidated, bee like creature crawled out of the skeleton of the pod Boaz. "Oh gimme a break!" he exclaimed as he turned to train his gun on the new creature.

This creature fell much faster than the previous. After only a few rounds, the creature shuddered backwards before plummeting to the ground.

More wary of the creature's multiple lives, he walked over to its side with his gun still trained on it. Satisfied that it was dead, he turned to the woman.

"Now, who the hell are you?"

AN: its starting to get juicy! thanks to all my readers and reviewers (and please continue reviewing--especially if you want more!)

thanks!