Tomb Raider: The Quest for PEPPERMINT
DarkPhoenix-24
10. Chapter 10
Rated: T - English - Adventure - Reviews: 50 - Updated: 02-20-10 - Published: 01-01-09 - id:4762400
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Author's Notes: Sorry for the wait!
Chapter 10
"Are you crazy?" Alister shrieked.
Lara just ignored him as she packed some of her things. James came walking in, "I think I've created a good duplicate of PEPPERMINT."
Lara looked at the rock James held. About an hour's worth of shaving a large stone gave it a coffin like look. "That will have to do."
"Using yourself as bait is definitely not one of your bright ideas, Lara! What if this guy is waiting for you?" Alister kept trying to block Lara's progress at packing some of her guns.
Lara threw them in the bag and looked at Alister, "How else are we suppose to bring this guy out into the open? Oh, let's make a bloody billboard with a picture of this fake rock and display our number on it so that whoever it is that's going after it will call us. Is that how you were planning on doing it?"
Alister just sulked, "I just don't want you getting hurt."
"I know." Lara replied, "I'm a big girl and you knew, when I hired you, what the risks were and what my career was."
"Maybe that's the problem, Lara. You are trying to continue on your father's legacy when all it did was get him killed."
*SLAP*
Alister grabbed the left side of his face as it throbbed in pain. Lara grabbed the collar of Alister's shirt in rage, "My father saved a lot of lives and I want to do everything in my power to make sure his efforts were not in vain."
Lara shoved Alister to the wall as she left the room. Zip handed Lara a bag with some computer equipment and Lara left the house. Alister looked to see everyone was staring at him. "What the bloody hell does the lot of you want?" Nobody said a word as he left to his room.
Lara sped her motorcycle up the winding path that led to her manor. The gate came to view and Lara pressed a button on her left hand glove. The gate immediately started to swing open…
"Mr. Powell, Lady Croft is home."
"Thank you Joseph." Mr. Powell hung up and looked out of Lara's bedroom window to see the dirt being kicked up on the driveway.
Mr. Powell ran his finger over a picture of a young Lara posing with her father. With a smirk, he walked out of Lara's room and made his way to the head of the stairs. As Lara entered through the threshold, she threw her bag across the living room to a couch and headed towards the stairs.
"Hello Lara."
Lara felt a chill run down her back as she looked to see Mr. Powell walking down the stairs towards her. Everything seemed to come to a standstill. Apparently all the dreams she had been having was a sign that Manfred Powell was not dead.
"How is this possible?" Lara asked.
Mr. Powell smiled, "We both seem to cheat death."
"But I killed you with my bare hands…" Lara seethed.
Memories of that day came flooding back; the triangle of light being pieced together, its destruction, and getting revenge for her father's death…
"You know, there are still secrets that have yet to be unearthed, Lara. Think of how much power you can harness from all the tombs that you will raid or will you throw it all away like everything else in your life?"
Lara's right hand was itching for her gun, "History is a way of teaching us not to make the same mistakes others have made. Anybody who harnesses power eventually dies, whether they are good or evil."
Mr. Powell motioned with his right hand and Lara quickly realized there were a lot of armed men on the premises. She felt the end of an M-16 touch the back of her head. "You're right Lara. History has taught me a great deal about you. You obviously don't do it for the glory. You are still chained to your dead father's wishes. I think it's time you let go."
Lara just seethed as Mr. Powell walked over to her bag that was tossed earlier. "So tell me Lara, how is Alex West?"
"Right, so what does this have to do with anything?"
Mr. Powell opened up the bag, "Oh, I remember. He's dead isn't he? That's funny actually, considering you were able to keep me from killing him, but he still died on your watch. How did it happen again? Didn't he fall to his death off of a cliff because his line broke?"
Lara gave a cold look, "So what of it?"
"Was he not the love of your life, or something like that?" Mr. Powell replied smirking.
Lara just stayed still as Mr. Powell dipped his hand into the bag to pull out the fake PEPPERMINT. He started to laugh, "Oh that's classic, Lady Croft! So you make a duplicate to hide in your own home because you knew that somebody would come to here to check for it. Your learned from your mistake with me, very good. Now I have to show you how serious I am about getting this piece."
Mr. Powell walked over to Lara as one of the men forced Lara's hands behind her and made sure she was not resistant by wrapping her neck with some rope. Dragging her out of the house, the men propped Lara up on her knees as she faced her manor from her front lawn. Mr. Powell patted Lara's right cheek. "No more Mr. Nice Powell."
Mr. Powell turned towards his mercenaries, "Burn it to the ground."
Lara's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen, "Stop! What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"
"I'm destroying everything that represents your father in your life. Just think of it as therapy that you have needed for a long time."
Lara gritted her teeth as she tried to get free, "I wouldn't want to disappoint you, but you are making a huge mistake doing this!"
She could see them breaking her windows and pouring gas around the perimeter as other mercenaries went inside, "You are not only making this even more personal, you are getting M16 involved as well. Which agent is working for you, Powell?"
Mr. Powell just walked away as the first few flames started to lick the walls of the manor. Lara fell backwards and kicked one of the mercenaries over her. Pulling out her guns, the first three mercenaries closest to her dropped like flies. Lara tried to squeeze a few bullets in Powell's direction, but he was long gone. Lara quickly jogged towards her bike as other shots flew past her. Using trees for cover, Lara successfully got on her bike and sped away. The sound of charring wood still reached her ears as silent tears started streaming down her face. Looking in the side view mirrors of her motorcycle, her father's lovely manor was being swallowed by an inferno of flames.
"Money Penny, I need you to do something for me ASAP."
"Go ahead, James. M is not in her office right now."
Bond smiled, "I'm thinking we are going to need a plan B just in case we have to get out of Germany. I need you to send me a few of those underwater sled's Q has been working on."
He could hear Money Penny sigh, "I don't think Q has even tested them yet."
"Well, think of this as a test run then, darling." Bond replied.
The Next Morning…
Zip was playing some Pantera as Hilary came walking in with some fresh made tea, "what on earth is that awful music?"
"Hey, I absolutely love these guys."
Hilary rolled his eyes as he poured some tea in a cup. As he handed the cup to Zip, a distraught Lara burst in through the door and slammed it shut. Breathing heavily she started shouting orders, "Pack everything up! We have to go now!"
James came running in, "Did you see who Valcroy was working for?"
"Yes." Lara started to help Zip pack his things.
"Lara!" James shouted.
"His name is Manfred Powell."
Hilary dropped the tea tray as soon as the name left Lara's mouth. "He's alive?"
"Yes. I don't have time to explain right now. We should probably get back to MI6 before Powell's mercenaries get here. I think a couple of them followed me."
"Right, well I have a plan of my own." James chimed in.
Alister came in the living room with some more bags, "These are waterproof!"
"Good." James replied, "I had Money Penny send us some underwater sleds. I'll use myself as bait for the mercenaries to follow so that everyone can make it to MI6 headquarters."
Lara nodded in agreement, "Ok, since we are pressed for time that will have to do."
James stopped for a moment, "So you are not going to argue with me on this one?"
Lara looking not amused just continued to pack things as fast as her hands could go. James realized the cold treatment he was getting and knew something else happened that was making Lara's anxiety run high. Everyone was headed to the boat house when the sound of speed boats coming up the river hit their ears. Lara listened intently and her then her eyes widened. "They're here!"
Sprinting into the boat house, Lara saw the underwater sleds bobbing in the water, waiting for them. "MI6 does quick work to get you things."
James gave Lara her scuba gear, "It's a perk of being a double-O."
Lara got her gear on, as did everyone else. James got into the speed boat, "Don't leave this boat house until I've secured the mercenaries on my tail, got it?"
Everyone nodded except for Lara who stared at James with her pleading eyes, "Be careful."
The speed boat roared to life. Its cherry wood finish reflected the light off of the water as James threw it into full reverse and steered it out into the water. Taking off, James looked behind him to see the mercenaries closing in on the house. After holding a deep breath, the mercenaries passed by the house and aimed their sights on him. With a smile, James threw the boat into the highest throttle possible and sped off.
Lara looked to see that the mercenaries were following James' tail and she jumped into the water. Swimming over to Hilary, Alister, and Zip, she motioned for them to grab onto the sleds. Lara touched the GPS button and switched it to autopilot so that they would be towed to MI6. After a few seconds, their underwater sleds turned on and pulled them into the safety of the dark water.
James had to be quick to get passed the residential zone of the river in order to be able to get away. He was a sitting target for these mercenaries with nowhere else to go but straight. That's when the first few bullets started to zing past him and a couple already embedded themselves into the side of the boat. What a pity since it was such a beautiful boat.
Looking around, James saw a tight squeeze between a boat house and a home that he could hide in and let the mercenaries follow the speed boat. A few more bullets found their way home in the boat and James had to act fast. Using his belt, James tied the steering wheel to the throttle in order to keep the boat from veering off. At the last second, James jumped off the right side and swam into the small gap that would be his hide out for the time being. He felt the waves from the mercenaries speed boats hit his body as he waited to get away. After what felt like a minute, James made his way back out and swam under the door into the residential boat house…
"Do you have her, Joseph?" Mr. Powell
Mr. Powell hung up the phone after he heard a definitive "no". Tossing the phone to the side, Powell started to pace the dark hall in thought. After a moment, Mr. Powell motioned one of his mercenaries over. "Bring me Mr. Pimms. I have a task for him."
Hilary was getting his scuba gear off when he noticed a long red mark around Lara's neck. Practically sprinting over to her, Hilary moved Lara's hair to examine her neck, "I'll kill that son of a…"
"Hilary! It's fine, we need to see if James made it ok."
A woman, wearing a Sunday dress and having her hair pulled up in a clip with the curls swirling around her face, came into to the water room to brief them. "Hello, I'm Money Penny. M is waiting for you."
"Did James make it ok?" Lara asked.
Money Penny smiled, "Knowing James, he probably will ride in on some expensive car he finds on the way back."
Lara didn't know if she should laugh at this or feel annoyed.