Now, there's this long, long chappie for you people. My first shot in flashbacks, so I don't expect it to be perfect. They are in Italics. And in the middle, I'm dead sure I brought about Science classes in your mind ;). A round of thanks, of course.
AcidRush- I liked those small funny moments myself! After all the hard fighting the raiders did with Boaz, I just decided to give them a nice humorous break. I may have not killed Karel in this chapter, but at least… Read on, I don't wanna spoil the surprise!
AKKON- I hope I must've given you enough time tom let the previous chapters sink in. This one took a LONG time. I will, update the next one not too quickly, just the way you'll like it. Thanks!
Chain Of Memories- With Lara, everything is easy, but with Kurtis, um... let's not discuss it right now. I hope this one's good. Thanks for reviewing.
lara-n-kurtis- You are not crazy, just a little overwhelmed :D… Thanks for reviewing me, now read on, you deserve this for your wait.
Without any further due, here is the awaited chapter.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Ending
Chapter 6: Eckhardt's Lab
The raiders proudly walked in through the door that looked quite welcoming to them, indeed. It was a split second later after entering a stone passageway that the male started searching for something abruptly in his pockets. "Have you seen my ring?" he anxiously asked his companion.
"You wore one?" Lara asked him, and then recalled that he did. "No."
Kurtis turned around and saw his precious right in the middle of the oak door that was closing slowly. He ran and grabbed it, putting it where it belonged: his right ring finger. "What's it for?" Lara asked, viewing it's importance.
"I'm engaged," Kurtis lied, and upon seeing Lara roll her eyes, added, "To Janice."
"That red smoking woman!" Lara asked disbelievingly. She doubted just for a small moment that if it was true, then he must have led Janice to her disgusting habit.
"Yes," he answered with his trademark smirk.
But Lara knew he was lying. Lara and Janice had seen him come out of Le Serpent Rouge. Janice acted normal, and such a woman like her won't if she saw her fiancé coming out of a place that was being staked out.
"Liar!" Lara said.
"Caught me. This is passed on to every family, of the Lux Veritatis. For us Bonvagues, it has always been gold."
"But you said your surname is-"
"Trent. I joined the Foreign Legion after my training. I was Gunderson's best agent there, he named me 'Trent' and that's where I got it from. I did not know that Gunderson was Eckhardt's man, I immediately left after father's murder," he explained, with a rather dark expression.
"You were a mercenary!" Lara asked, utterly shocked. She was actually beginning to like this man.
"Before father's murder, yeah," he answered, trying to hide the pain, but she didn't care.
"You were a mercenary, and you never told me that!" she began, her blood boiling.
"I was young there, and I desperately needed cash, so-" he tried.
"So you thought you'd start killing people for money, right?" Lara snapped.
"I-" he again tried.
"You know that I have my reputation out there!" Lara shot with fury.
"But you-"
"So what if the world thinks I am the Monstrum! I know that I am not one, and after proving it, I'll get another big stain on my reputation, and you know why? Because I worked with someone for the first, or maybe the last time and that someone turned out to be a mercenary!" she yelled at him, pointing her index finger at him whilst saying the last line. Lara became breathless, and since her temper flew up, a terrible headache broke out in her head.
"Sorry," Lara murmured, not sounding sorry at all and turned. She felt that she had said much more than she should to a stranger. She can truly can think that his father's murder knocked the sense back into him. She didn't want him to start crying on her; it wouldn't be a pleasure for anyone to run around wet in this cold city of Prague, and especially someone who is running from police!
Kurtis bent his head, obviously ashamed. He regretted what he said before, deeply, and recalled the darkest memory he had. "What would you do if your parent or most trusted friend forced you to go in the mouth of death?" he asked gravely, and quietly.
Lara inwardly gasped. Hair on the back of her neck stood up on it's end. 'Werner,' she thought. "The final stages of my training," he continued in a shaky whisper, "when I was sixteen. Father, left me alone, to die."
She never felt so alike to another person in all her life. His father left him to die, and Werner, who was like her parent, did the same with her. One couldn't call it just a coincidence; they both were of the same age. Lara felt a certain darkness inside, and her heart twisted in pain, because someone, finally, a someone who was like her in any way, had been through the same stage, she had hit upon a major truth of his life, and brought up his most painful experience.
Her past life haunted her like spirits, and followed her like a shadow. A strong hand grabbed her arm and forced her to turn and face Kurtis. "HOW WOULD YOU? HUH!" he bellowed at her face, as his voice echoed in the passage. His blue eyes turned bloodshot, and he shivered slightly, though it was perfectly warm. Lara got a bit scared, of what he might do to her. His nose was flaring in anger or regret, and his angry gaze remained steady on her. His expression became calm then, and his grip fell. "Trust me, if you haven't experienced it, you'll never know," he said in a deathly whisper, and as if to hide his tears, he turned and placed a hand on the wall, and leaned with one hand against it, and hot tears rolled freely.
A wave of emotion swept over her, and took away all the stiffness she could muster. "I understand," she whispered to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Perfectly," she added with a dry throat. Kurtis wiped his tears, and did not let Lara see them. Seeing him like that, she did what she thought was right, and what should've been done long ago. "I never knew it was like that."
"And you didn't even try, how can you understand?" he asked her, with melancholy.
"Because it all happened to me too. Werner was like my father, and he left me to die too, like you. We are very similar to each other. And I now realize this. I am alone now." Kurtis didn't reply. She had actually told her only secret to someone.
They walked a short way till they came to a slope, with spikes coming out in from the sides, trying to finish the intruders they sensed: the raiders. The slope ended with a small lava pool. Lara jumped on the slope and slided gracefully in the middle, jumped up again to avoid being toasted in the lava and somersaulted in the air to see Kurtis' progress, and with a soft thud, she hit the ground. He started when Lara ended, but jumped early, for he couldn't stand the heat; unlike the raider. The lava pool was small, yet large enough to take Kurtis. The tomb raider, realizing that he won't make it on his own, dived and caught his wrists just before he fell to his boiling doom. Lara puffed, panted and grunted hard, and all her exertion did provide fruit. She managed him on the ledge.
He panted slightly, dusted off the dirt and continued without a word. Lara followed into a small room. There was an extinguished fire-place, lots of tables with some weird flasks placed on top. There was a broken staircase that led to a receptacle, on a wooden stand. Near the entrance was a small pool, meters below the pit. On the top was a large cage hanging from a rope. Placed on one of the side of the pit was a lever. On the far edge of the room was another pool, a circular one and the pools' red glow alarmed Lara. A wooden ladder was placed on the right side of the doorway. A ledge blocked it's way on somewhat the sixteenth rung. "Here goes nothing," the tomb raider said and with tensed neck muscles, pulled the lever. A creaking sound was made and the ledge was thrown upwards; thus opening the trapped ladder. A metallic clang near Lara informed the adventurers that two undead knights were freed as well, from what exactly, they didn't know. Lara holstered her Rigg 09 and Kurtis his Boran X once more. The partners, without any intentions, stood back-to-back again, and circled slowly. 'This is getting really old.'
Kurtis kicked one's face and staggering, the undead fell into the pit near the lever.
"Thanks," Lara said, as his action provided her with a strategy. Lara ran to the other side of the room, where the other deep pool was situated. She jumped above the pool, and the knight, who thought that he himself too could make it, jumped up high and Lara emptied a clip right into his skull. It fell down in the water and sank in there. Lara saw that it was not water, but clear lava! His skeleton body was covered in flames as they rose up high from the water, making Lara back away and hit... A similar receptacle! But she was too tensed to observe it. Kurtis rushed to her, from the round edge of the small place. His eyes snapped open at the sight of fire, and he led Lara back to the old room with her hand. She was still in the state of shock. "Lara," he began shaking her, wondering what she saw.
"I saw the last Periapt Shard in the pool, back there," Lara whispered.
"What!" Kurtis blurted out. 'Is she telepathic?'
"Yes, it was on a stand; deep down."
"You sure?"
"Yes," and to end their previous topic for once and for all, she began, "I'm sorry for what happened back there. I've never worked with someone, and the first time, I am with..." she stopped. His grip loosened, and then fell.
Lara heavily sighed. "I'm sorry."
"You should know one more thing; I've left the Legion and Gunderson. If I knew that he's with that Alchemist, I would've never joined it."
"You accept my apologies?"
"In a way, yes," he answered, and slipping an arm under Lara's armpit, he gave Lara a tight hug, and a friend, that both of them needed. Lara returned it as tightly.
"WHAT!" Eckhardt yelled when he saw the adventurers locked in a tight embrace. There was a secret camera hidden behind one of the flasks on the table, and he could hear and see what was going on perfectly.
"I know, it is shocking, indeed," Gunderson said when he saw the video himself. Joachim Karel stayed quiet.
"Those two had firstly formed a team, and now THIS! Truly outrageous. And worse, they have crept up into my lab!" Eckhardt exclaimed.
"At least the Shard's safe," Karel pointed out.
"Not for long," Gunderson informed him, "Meister has arranged a puzzle for any intruder to find the Shard. With Croft's brains and Trent's strength, they could easily solve it."
"That is it then. I am going to start the ritual, now! They might not have time to stop me; the Nephilim will rule the world!"
"Sorry, Pieter. You forgot an important detail: The ritual can only be formed when the sky turns dark. You need to wait ten minutes for that, otherwise-" Karel was cut off by him.
"Yes, yes. No need to teach me anything," he rudely said. Karel's temper rose, but he tried to remain calm, as he planned out his next move.
"The Shard?" Gunderson asked, somewhat anxiously.
"Well, let them have it. Even if they solve the puzzle, they will be too late to stop me from what I have to do," Eckhardt said whilst rubbing his hands against the cold, and then gave out a long, cold and evil laugh.
They broke away, and after holstering their guns, noticed that there was a metal gate. "We now, need the Shard," Kurtis reminded her. Lara nodded as an answer, and something shiny green caught her eye. Sitting lazily on the nearest table was a phial. Lara picked it up, and observed it. The liquid shone perfect green, and on the top was scraped into rusty metal: O2.
"Oxygen?" she asked herself aloud. Kurtis read the formula himself. "It's oxygen all right," he said to her. Shrugging because of not coming up with any solution, she placed the phial in her backpack. The partners walked up to the receptacle on a wooden stand. After observing it, Kurtis said, "No. It's for hydrogen."
"Great! Now where are we gonna find hydrogen?" she asked him.
"Just a hunch," Kurtis told her and walked towards the free ladder. "You stay here, you've taken many risks now and then," he instructed her. Frustrated, Lara complied.
Kurtis climbed up and got off the right side. On one corner of the room was a wooden structure, and the receptacle he had been looking for. 'O' was scraped into this. "So this is where it goes," he muttered to himself, and then he called out to Lara, "Found the right receptacle!"
"Good work, chap," Lara praised him. As he walked down, he saw something electric blue in the black cage hanging above the pit. Kurtis jumped onto it, and it started swaying slightly. "What the heck are you up to!" she yelled at him as he gripped the rope to steady it as well as regain his balance.
"Three minutes," he called out to her, and after falling through a secret trap-door, he picked up his prize: a hydrogen phial. A sudden jerk made him stagger a bit, as the cage started falling toward the clear lava. He climbed up the metal bars, and hoisted himself up. The cage had fallen into the pit, and he stood on the top, perfectly safe from boiling death. Lara rushed towards him, "You okay!" she asked.
"Fine," he nodded. The walls of the pit looked climbable. He thrust his fingers and toes into them and climbed up, but at a certain point, he couldn't go any further. He raised his neck up a bit to see something that took his breath away. He pulled himself up into this small niche, and picked up another Phial. "NaCl?" he asked himself, and calculated out the formula in his mind. "Sodium Chlorine or even; Sodium Chloride! This is salt!" he exclaimed. He quickly made his way up, and performed a backflip and landed near Lara. Kurtis produced two Phials, and Lara was amazed. "You're as good at raiding as me myself!" she exclaimed.
"Hunting," he corrected her. He took the Phials back and Lara climbed the ladder to place the phial in it's receptacle. A white light covered the structure, and then faded away. Meanwhile, Kurtis did the same with the remaining Phials, and white light illuminated the room. Lara jumped down, and saw pure white liquid traveling on the floor, towards the pool that kept the Shard. The liquid mixed in, and the pool turned bluish. "You go in there," he said to her.
"Why?" Lara asked.
"Eckhardt will know that someone from the Order is taking the Shard. We don't wanna alert him," he explained.
"Fine with me," and with a simple yet graceful dive, Lara swam into the pool, and took her prize from the pedestal. She surfaced the room.
Kurtis drew his Boran when he heard a metallic sound. The gate was thrown open, and a slide made it's way to their destination. They both stood and stared down. "Ready?" he asked, emotion flickering in his azure eyes.
"As anyone could be," she returned. With a nodding tilt of his head, the adventurers slid down the passage. In front of them stood large double doors. "Kurtis, you stay. I'll go in first," Lara told him, "He might've set a trap for you."
"Okay, I'll join you later," he quietly answered and for her, pushed open the door. The room beyond was deserted. He gave her one Shard, and kept the rest in his hands. Lara walked on towards the middle of it, and Kurtis stayed hidden behind one of the eight pillars.
The sky was dark, she could see from the glass domed ceiling. The room was circular, and near the middle of it was a round holed metal floor. The place had floors, but the source to reach them were not yet visible. Eckhardt was on the top-most one, and on a pedestal, he placed metal pieces on five specific corners. Those five magically moved and fused in to make a deadly weapon: The Sanglyph. The Sleeper, was lowered from the ceiling to the floor on which their enemy was standing on. Lara slashed a new clip into her Scorpion X and shot a few bullets at him. He placed his Snaglyph in front of him, and with a ricocheting sound, the bullets fused into the thing. "Still alive Ms.Croft, you are resilient!" he exclaimed, "But over the decades I've killed more mortals like you than I can remember."
"And stole their body parts like a cheap grave robber," she added for the killer.
"As now I will take yours," he jumped down one floor.
"All those organs you ripped off from your victims were to wake this THING? You are grotesque!" she said disgustingly as she shot a few more bullets that he avoided.
"Only my great arts can cause the higher race to flourish again," he said with sickly pride.
"So I guess it's up to me to stop you, then," she called out to him.
"I hunted down and killed the last of the Lux Veritatis. I am immortal!" he said.
"Really?" Kurtis asked as he joined in the conversation, with strong arms crossed over his chest. Upon seeing him, Eckhardt gave out a laugh.
"You! Someone who is a half Veritatis can think of killing me! Son of a someone whose mother was a normal human!" he exclaimed and laughed some more. Lara shot Kurtis a demanding look, but unexpectedly, his facial expressions clearly explained that he was amused.
"I think you confusing me with Kurtis Ricardo, Eckhardt," he shot at him, and suddenly, Eckhardt looked as if he had seen a ghost. Kurtis showed him the two Shards and Lara the third. "The Shards!" he asked and looked more grave. Eckhardt needed the final two ones, and they were with him all along!
"Scary, huh? For you," Lara smirked.
"It is my destiny to breed Hell on earth. You are nothing to me," he shot.
"D'you know," Lara said throwing a glance at Kurtis who gave a nod, "It's gonna be a real pleasure to shut you up!"
Eckhardt jumped to the ground and created a powerful force field using the Sanglyph. Only the two adventurers and him were left in the huge circular area. He quickly attached the Snaglyph to his glove, and sent blue electric shots on them. "Duck!" Kurtis yelled, and laid himself on his abdomen, in a perfect commando crawl. Lara followed his route, and joined him seconds later. Eckhardt gave a hideous yell, and continued on sending energy bolts at them. When he was unsuccessful after three tries, he ran to one side, and using his glove, created a copy of himself, that hung down, and swayed. He jumped to the other side, with a huge leap he made another copy of himself. ''500 years of age and still making five meter jumps!" Lara whispered to Kurtis, who stood again on his feet.
"Yeah," he answered. He made the third copy of himself, and the three doppelgangers stood up, and ran to the middle of the floor. They fused with gold light, and Lara covered her face. Kurtis squinted his eyes, and moved forward with one Shard ready in his hand. Eckhardt was on his knees, and his gray eyes shone like diamonds when Kurtis reached him. "This is for my mother!" Kurtis growled, and thrust the Shard on his abdomen. Eckhardt screamed on top of his lungs, and rose from the ground as the Light of Truth damaged him internally. Kurtis' breaths were ragged and short, and when Eckhardt returned to the ground, Kurtis gave him a full round-house kick, and after staggering for a while, he sent a red glowing fireball at Kurtis, who missed it by inches. He sent another one at Lara, and it brushed by her wounded waist. She screamed in agony, and Kurtis rushed to her. Lara's waist started bleeding again. "Lara, you okay?" he asked anxiously.
"Am fine," she said with a wince, and with his help, she managed to get in a crawl position, as Eckhardt continued to fire fire-bolts at them. Kurtis stood up, a wall of water that screamed to leak away like tears in his eyes present. "This one's for Lara!" he yelled to him, and he thrust his hands forward. The next fire-ball sent by Eckhardt, hit back to him in the face, as Kurtis used his telekinesis to turn the direction. However, the skin didn't burn, and neither did it swell; it looked as if nothing happened at all, but on the contrary, Eckhardt felt the pain. He gave out a painful yell, and Kurtis then rushed to him, ready to stab. "My father, Eckhardt, who you mercilessly murdered. Remember Eckhardt, he begged you that just once, he could see my face. Now the world will never see yours!" and he thrust the Shard next to the previous one. He again rose from the ground, and when he returned, Lara walked towards him, with the last Shard ready. Her wound had stopped bleeding, but she felt as if someone was applying hot needles into it sharply. With Kurtis' support, she walked forward with an awfully strong desire to end this now. 'Relax Lara, just a few more minutes,' she mentally told herself. Eckhardt looked dazed. His vision was hazy, and he felt extremely weak. Lara whispered, "For Werner," and she charged up. When the distance between home and the Shard was only a few inches, a strong hand grabbed it and Lara surprisingly thrown backwards into Kurtis' lap. "Karel!" Kurtis exclaimed seeing him. When the demon hunter realized what might happen, he left Lara and rushed to Karel, or should we say, jumped on him and pinned him to the ground. While the two men rolled over each other, Lara stood up as the pain had incredibly ceased. Kurtis gave an angry yell, and took the Shard from his hand. "Lara, the Shard!" he shouted, and threw their prize in the raider's hands.
"THE END!" she screamed and thrust the Shard deep into his forehead. His head rolled to his right shoulder.
Karel pushed Kurtis to one side, and he rolled over. "Filthy mortal!" he exclaimed. Lara held Karel at gun point, this time with her both Vector-R35's. Kurtis flashed his laser sight in Karel's eyes. "I knew you'd find the third Shard," he said to both of them, "But I wanted the honor to kill Eckhardt."
"But why? You worked for him," Lara said, as surprised as Kurtis.
"No, unknowingly he worked for me. But his usefulness was ended."
"Will you destroy his work?" Lara asked with hope that he will. She wanted a soft warm bed desperately.
"Of course not! The Great Work will be finished. I'm offering you both the chance to become part of a benign new order in the world," he said with an evil expression.
'Oh bother!' "You are kidding, right?" Kurtis asked.
"We Nephilim have only ever been trying to survive," he said with a glint of sadness.
'WHAT!' Lara thought, but said harshly, "Too many people have died for me to trust you. Including a good friend, Von Cory."
"He was an unfortunate victim of history, Lara. Eckhardt was stupid to have killed him. I have helped you all along, both here and in Paris, going through different transformations," Joachim Karel explained, as he suddenly turned into Bouchard, "So that you can reach here, and be MY partner in this superior deed," he said whilst turning into a familiar reporter: Luddick. Lara, utterly shocked, stared disbelievingly, and Kurtis too stared on. Then, the Nephilim did something that surprised both the partners:
He transformed into Kurtis.
"You can trust me Lara Croft," he continued. Lara didn't believe her eyes, but did after seeing that the fake Kurtis walked, talked and acted like the real Kurtis. "What the heck!" Kurtis exclaimed. Lara gazed at Kurtis with an expression that showed that she'll never trust anyone ever again.
"I swear, he's lying!" he said after seeing Lara's expression. As he saw how Lara looked hurt and terribly used, he decided to convince her with an alternative path. "You said you trusted me," the real Kurtis said, in a desperate tone.
The fake Kurtis smirked, that trademark smirk, being copied from the real Kurtis. Karel turned into his true Nephilim form. "Lady Lara Croft, is he even a thing to trust? Such a respectable rank you've got, when you weren't wanted, I can change that," the ugly thing had purple veins sticking out of perfect gray skin. Strange symbols were marked on the face, and he looked menacing. When he had turned into Kurtis, no emotion or flame of hope shone in between azure orbs. No red flush on the cheeks as a sign of life, overall, no matter which fake identity he put on, he looked like death himself; no signs of life present.
"Lara, don't listen to him," Kurtis began.
"You shall have your reputation back," Karel reminded her in a fashion.
"He'll kill you after his dirty-"
"I'll keep you like a queen, and won't lay a finger on you-"
"HE KILLED WERNER!" Kurtis yelled as he lost his temper. Lara flashed a confused look at him. "Don't you understand," Kurtis began, as he rushed to Lara. "He is the Monstrum! He murdered Werner, because Eckhardt admitted that he killed my parents. He used to put on Eckhardt's appearance and go on terrorising the streets of Paris and Prague. It was he who landed you in this position, he! Karel, NOT Eckhardt!" Kurtis pointed out.
"I am worthy of your trust, Lara Croft," Joachim Karel said, ignoring Kurtis, as he put forward his right hand, as a sign of courtesy that did him a bad deed.
On his palm was a symbol; the symbol of the Nephilim. Lara remembered something that she couldn't for a lot time: the scene of Von Croy's death.
"I'm tracking five Obscura paintings for a client called Eckhardt, but he's a psychopath!" Werner said to his ex-student.
"Why should I care?" Lara Croft said, obviously angry at him for Egypt.
"Because I'm being stalked! People are dying out there!" he said desperately as he rose from his chair.
"Handle it, Werner!" Lara said, as she rose with a creak from her armchair.
"Look, please Lara," he began as he fetched something from his bureau. "Look, go and see this woman Carvier, she can help."
Lara grabbed the card and snapped, "I'm going," then she thought of making Werner feel guilty for what he had done to her before. "Egypt Werner," she said as she turned like a flash and pushed him on the chair in which previously she was wasting her time on. "You walked away and left me, there was no pity then!" she shot angrily.
"Get out, get out of the way!" Lara complied, when Von Croy gave her a slight push on the right shoulder, and moved backward. Von Croy drew out his pistol, and a strong hand forced Lara to hit a shelf of books, and her vision became hazy, and now remembered clearly what she had heard.
"NO!" Werner shouted, and grunted as it looked like as if he was being pushed on from wall to wall. She heard a slipping sound, and saw later Werner's pistol under a table.
"Von Croy, you located the painting for me, why didn't you give it to me?" Eckhardt asked as he grabbed the poor professor from the throat and lifted him up.
"I daren't collect it, it's too dangerous. But she'll be able to," he choked, pointing to Lara. Eckhardt threw the unconscious-looking raider a dirty look. Then firmed his grip on Werner's throat, and after a small yell, he departed from the world. "Your usefulness is finished!" Eckhardt said, as Werner's lifeless body thumped to the floor. He cut open his chest, and took out the organs he needed, and using his blood, wrote something in Latin on the walls. After doing his dirty job, he grabbed Werner's glasses, and broke them by crushing it in his palm. During the small process, he changed in to what he really was; Joachim Karel, a Nephilim.
"You humans break so easily," he muttered as he dropped the broken spectacles near Lara's face. The last thing she remembered was the symbol engraved in the flesh of him palm.
Snapping back to reality, and seeing Kurtis, she nodded at him. "You killed Von Croy!" she said deeply, as her warm brown eyes now full of anger narrowed.
"Stupid mortals! So be it!" Karel cursed the adventurers.
Well, I guess you'll need to learn how to cope with cliffhangers :D The next one will be up really soon, it's a short one I guess, but NOT the end. Thanks once more. Please, let me know how this was, 28.1 KB is really a lot to write, or simply eleven pages. Thanks for encouraging me to continue on with this story, I thought it won't be good at all. Please do keep on encouraging. I appreciate it.