Chapter 2
The Goddess Hera
"Lara, you need to slow down. At the rate your going, you're going to end up pulverizing a small animal," Zip said, watching Lara speed down a dirt road to get to her extraction point.
"Don't worry about it Zip. Did you contact my ride out?" Lara asked, keeping a unblinking focus on the road.
"Alistair did. Mr. Santori agreed to take you back to the manor in his chopper," Zip told her as she finally came to a highway that lead back into the nearest town.
"Good. In the meantime, look at the recording of the cave. Try to find out how that woman got in and then figure out who she is," Lara instructed as she drastically reduced her speed after seeing a marked police car.
"Okay," Zip said.
"Oh, and put Alistair through, I want him to search for some background history behind this staff. Maybe we can find out why it was separated and where the pieces are," Lara said.
"Sure," Zip complied.
"Hmm,?" Alistair asked through Lara's ear piece.
"Alistair, I want you to find any evidence about how and where Hera's staff was separated. I need as much background history as possible," Lara said.
"Oh, now you need me," Alistair stated.
"Come on Alistair. You must understand how distracting it is to have you and Zip in my ear. I sear, I lose my head sometimes with you two arguing," she said honestly.
"Well you understand it isn't my fault," Alistair said angrily.
"Of course. If it makes you feel better, you can join Zip on my next outing, but first, please research about Hera, yes?" Lara asked.
"All right," he complied. "See you in a couple hours then," Lara said, taking off her ear piece, as she found the road to the heli pad she intended to leave on. As she drove up to a chain-link fence with a gate blocking the heli pad, she was halted by an officer.
"What do you need?" he asked with a strong accent Lara had to interpret quickly.
"I have a man picking me up here. Mr. Santori?" she asked the man.
"I am sorry. He has called to inform you he will be an hour late. Are you Lady Croft?" he asked.
"Yes."
"He has instructed you to go into to town and browse in the meantime," he told her. Lara sighed.
"Thank you," she said, a bit disappointed in having to wait. She put her jeep in reverse and turned around. She drove to the nearest parking lot that was surrounded by shops. She grabbed her ear piece to contact Zip.
"Zip?" she stated firmly.
"Yep," he replied.
"I have been told Mr. Santori is late. Why?" she asked, not expecting that Zip actually knew.
"Don't know. I guess he had an errand to run. What are you going to do? Wait? How long will you be?" he asked.
"I suppose I will have a look around. I have a bloody hour to kill," she said, wanting badly to have access to a computer so she could find information on the staff.
"Well, kill away," Zip said sarcastically. Lara pulled out the ear piece and tossed it on the passenger seat. She unbuckled and stepped out of the jeep. She nearly forgot she had her pistols strapped to her. She took them off and threw them in, locking the door after them. She stepped in the closet shop.
It was compiled of several badly made souvenirs. Most was created from cheap glass and coated with a poor paint job. She had no desire to purchase anything in the entire store. She smiled to the clerk who seemed to eye her like he had not seen a customer in years. She left the store before he came out to convince her to buy something.
The next store was a well-maintained attire shop. Most of the clothes inside were of Greek origin. It had some interesting design. Lara considered buying something, but decided she had enough clothes as it was. She left the store and passed the next store that looked like a children's toy store.
The next store was a fishing store. It had several harpoon guns mounted on the back wall, which Lara decided to take a look at. She could not remember the last time she shot of one of these. It had been a while. She needed a new one. Never knew when she would have to swim beneath the ocean to another sunken ship. Before she could ask the man for a price a sleek dagger flew past her face and connected to the wall next to her. Lara quickly looked in the direction of the dagger. It was the woman. Still cloaked, except extracting daggers from inside the cloak. She threw another one. Lara slid behind a shelf.
"Get down!" she yelled at the clerk, though she doubted the woman would attack him at the moment. "Who are you?" Lara asked, though expecting silence from the woman. As though she would really come out and say, "Oh, I'm the souvenirs shop clerk's wife Kelly, I'm here to kill you for not purchasing anything". Lara ignored her sudden thought and scooted up a bit to kick a harpoon gun off the wall and into her hand. Another dagger flew into the wall. Lara dived around the shelf and nailed the woman's hand with a harpoon, causing her to loose the dagger she had in her hand.
Lara charged at her and crescent kicked the next hand that pulled out another dagger. Then gave a powerful lunging kick to her face, knocking her back. She took out yet another and instead masterfully threw it up to the ceiling, knocking down a large chandelier, Lara had not noticed. She quickly executed two fast backhand springs, barely avoiding it. When she looked up, the woman disappeared.
"Did you see where she went?" Lara asked the frightened clerk. He shook his head. Lara raced out of the shop to see if she was visible, but no one was cloaked, or running. She went to her jeep, keeping a close eye out for any more daggers coming at her face. When she got to her jeep, she quickly contacted Zip.
"Yeah-" he started.
"Zip. That woman attacked me," Lara said angrily.
"What? Did she get away?"
"Yes. She is an apparent expert in knife throwing. She is far more than a thief," Lara stated as she caught a helicopter out of the corner of her eye.
"Huh? Well that's strange of her to attack you though, isn't it. I mean, when thieves steal something, they normally don't come back to rub it in do they?" Zip said.
"No. She must know there are more pieces. And she must know I was intending to find them. Have you checked that recording?" Lara asked as she started her engine.
"Yeah. The light from the bolt seems to linger for a bit. I know it would be odd, but I think it was possible for her to time her entrance with the lightning bolt. Though, I don't know how. I also don't know why. I mean, the only reason for that would be if she knew she was being watched, right?" Zip asked.
"I would assume. And when she came out, is any part of her face visible?" Lara asked.
"Nope. Completely covered. However, the artifact is in plain view. You want a picture of it," Zip.
"That would be lovely, thank you Zip. I'll see you in a bit, my ride is here. Oh, and fiddle with the brightness and contrast on the lightning bolt. Maybe you can see a glimpse of her," Lara instructed as she pulled back into the landing pad.
"Will do," Zip stated. Lara pulled up to the gate and was let through this time. She waited as the helicopter landed. Another man came up to her after she grabbed her stuff from the jeep. She informed him of where she rented the jeep from so he could take it back for her. She went ahead and strapped on her pistols, although she gained several worried looks from the men at the gate. When the helicopter settled to where she could climb in she walked towards it. Over blades of the helicopter, she still could hear a distant screaming from two men. Lara turned her head to see the two men at the gate fall to the ground, from knives that were jutting from their skulls.
Now Lara was beyond the point of anger. This woman trying to kill her was one thing, but killing innocent people was crossing the line. The strange woman, Lara now noticed, was approaching her in a full sprint. Intent on killing her before leaving. Lara drew her guns and fired two shots that flew over the quickest dodge roll Lara had ever seen. The woman came up between her arms and elbowed her in the face with the speed of martial arts master. Lara reeled back before the woman grabbed Lara's neck and attempted to force her on the ground. Lara brought her guns up to the woman's body, indicating that she intended to shoot her if she did not release. She complied with an unexpected smile.
"What are your intentions!" Lara yelled through the extremely loud helicopter, though the only way you could tell what she said was by reading her lips. Although Lara held her guns up to the woman, the cocky smile made Lara feel uneasy.
"Foolish mortal," the woman said, not raising her voice at all, yet Lara could her it echo in her head. A sudden clash of thunder and Lara sensed the bolt of lightning that was about to follow. She dived under the helicopter and quickly rolled to the other side, seeing the bright flash touch the ground. When she got to the other side, she yanked open the helicopter door, climbed in, and shut it.
"What is happening out there!" Santori yelled as though he was in perilous danger.
"Never mind, just go!" Lara shouted irately. She glanced out the window, but knew what she was going to find. A rough, black circle from where the bolt had hit, but no woman to be found. She knew how she had gotten into the tomb now, and she had an impulsive feeling she was not dealing with an average person, but of an angry goddess whose every intention was to gain her staff back, at whatever cost.
Okay, so this chapter was also rather short. My apologies, I usually have longer chapters. It will get bigger as I go, I promise. Please review and tell me what you think of the development of the story. Comments and critizism is welcome! I would like to have at least 6 reviews before I update! Oh, and since I finished some other fics I will be able to update sooner!