Tomb Raider: After Life.
Chapter 1 - Micheal and Natalya Tihocan.
The Croft Manor that once stood proud and tall, the legacy of Lord Richard Croft, know lay as a pile of ruins. A year after the explosion, reconstruction had barely begun. The rubble was still being cleared away and the old foundations were being torn down before the new ones could be laid. But one good thing to Lara was that her vault and trophy room had been very well enforced. While the vault had taken some damage thanks to the Doppelganger, most of Lara's important documents and artefacts she was still studying were safe, and the trophies from her journeys were untouched.
But it was a small consolation…they could not compare to what had been lost. Lara pondered this as she sat in her room in Winston's house, she'd been staying there with him ever since the explosion, and held up a burnt photograph in her hand. It was a photo of the first time she, Zip and Alister had all posed for one, when they unveiled Excalibur at Professor Eddington's museum of Mythology. She knew now that the sword wasn't exactly unique, but the fact remained that Alister had been there to help her find the first one…but he wouldn't be here for any more adventures.
And it wasn't just Alister's death that she still mourned. Finding her mother's animated corpse in Hellheim and facing up to the reality of her death was bad enough, but having to shoot her mother in order to defend herself was something that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Pictures could be restored, and unfortunately, memories could not be erased. The bad was starting to outweigh the good and Lara was beginning to find it hard to cope.
It was then that Winston, her ever faithful butler, came in with the afternoon tea and the latest news on the repairs to her home. "Hello Winston." She said, as Winston placed the tray down.
"Good day Lara. I see you're reminiscing on better days." Said Winston, pouring 2 cups of tea.
"Yes. To this day I still miss seeing Alister…and having Zip near by. I can't say I blame him for leaving, it was callous of me to leave the moment I'd finished with the police."
"He hasn't left for good Lara, he just needs time to get his head together…as do you. Losing a friend is going to take some time to heal, but it will be better soon…you'll see."
Lara gave a little smile, but in truth, she didn't really believe Winston. This past year had given her time to reflect and she was starting to wonder what she really wanted from her life, and no matter how exhilarating it was, a person can't spend their entire life running around the world, because even that would stop being enough. "Ah, I'd almost forgotten. The workmen found this today. It's a bit dusty but nothing a good polish won't fix." Said Winston, lifting up a cloth covered object.
Lara took it from him and unwrapped the cloth. "The Glaive…the weapon I brought back from Turkey. I never put it in the vault so I feared it was lost." She said, staring in wonder at the weapon.
"You never told me what happened there, but you would always look at this and smile. I had hoped it would have the desired effect." Said Winston.
Lara ran her fingers over the weapon, Just then, something crashed downstairs and shook the house to it's foundations. "What on Earth?!" Gasped Winston.
"Stay here." Ordered Lara
She grabbed her guns and took the Glaive with her and ran towards the stairs. When Lara reached outside, she saw the front garden overrun…but with something Lara never wanted to see again. "Skinless apes. The skinless monsters from the Atlantian temple in Egypt. But how?" She wondered.
But she was brought back to reality when one of the creatures made a dive for her. Lara quickly rolled out of the way and fired a shot that went straight through it's head. She sprung back to her feet as 2 more came running at her and Lara quickly emptied her rounds to kill them. As she released the clips to reload, another one came at her from over head. Lara through a sticky grenade on to it's body, grabbed it's feet and threw it into an oncoming army of the creatures…blowing them all to kingdom come as the grenade went off.
Lara reloaded the guns and aimed them at the flesh creatures, only to find herself surrounded and the creatures ready to rip her to shreds.
Natalya looked out the window as they drove through the town up to the village where Winston lived. "Mr Micheal sir, Miss Natalya, if I may ask and forgive me if it's none of my business…but what is the purpose of this visit. Neither of you have had any dealings with Lady Croft before." Started Joseph.
"It's a serious private family matter, the less you know the better…all I can tell you is this. We need to find out what happened to 2 people very close to us and she's the only one who can help." Said Natalya.
But just as they pulled up near the site, they saw a huge black truck parked outside. 2 men got out and walked to the side door and began to open the door. "What the…" Started Natalya.
But before she could finish, the skinless creatures jumped out of the truck and ran on to the site. Natalya sat back as the screams of the workmen rang out from the other side and pressed a panel on the back of the seat. She began pressing a keypad and another panel slid open. "Miss Natalya, I'm afraid the men that unleashed those creatures have seen us." Said Joseph, reaching into the glove compartment.
Natalya pulled out 2 black guns and something she attached to her hip, as her father pulled out a shot gun and began loading it. "Defend the car you 2, I'll call if I need a quick getaway." She said, opening the door and getting out of the car.
"Yes Ma'am!" Said Joseph, prepping his own gun.
"Natalya, be careful!" Her father called.
The men spotted her as she got out of the car and they began advancing on her. While Michael and Joseph looked in nervously, Natalya hid her guns behind her back as the men drew near her, their weapons aimed at her head. "Get back in your car and turn around lady, you've got no business being here." Said one of them.
"Oh that's where you would be wrong my friend. The woman you just set those creatures upon has something I need…which leaves us with a problem. How do I get you 2 out of my way?" She said.
The weapon on her hip began to glow and the men began to back away cautiously. "So which do you prefer…death by bullet, or death by dismemberment?"
Her weapon ripped itself away from her body and sped by the men's heads. As they turned to avoid it, Natalya ran up behind them and pressed the guns into the backs of their heads and fired.
Lara looked over at where she'd heard the gun shots ring out, as did the creatures who began snarling in anger as the assailant walked in through the main gates. The woman bore the image of bathing in blood, her white suit stained with it. But what startled Lara the most were the blood red hair and the silver octagonal disk with blades stretched out of the edges. "Another Glaive…what on earth." She gasped.
"Don't let your guard down Croft! We're not done here!" She called, raising her empty hand.
The Golden Glaive attached to Lara's belt began glowing, and before Lara could react, it extracted it's own blades and flew through the air, slicing apart the skinless monsters on it's way to the other woman's hand. Lara regained her wits and fired at the remaining monsters in front of her before running back towards the house where the monsters were gathering upon. "Winston! Gather everything you can, we need to get out of here!" Cried Lara, shooting down the monsters trying to get inside.
Lara was so focused on protecting Winston and the trailer that she didn't notice 3 of the monsters baring down upon her. But the woman did and ran towards them, launching both Glaives at them and cutting them to shreds as she reached Lara and house. "What's your name?" Asked Lara, as the monsters gathered around them.
"Natalya. And I came here to talk to you, but this place is no longer safe." Said Natalya.
"Obviously. But it doesn't look like we'll be getting out of here without a few injuries."
"Lady Croft."
Winston came running out holding a large hold all. "Oh dear." He gasped as Lara and Natalya got into a defensive position around him.
The monsters around them slowly began advancing, their mouth dripping in anticipation of a meal. Lara kept her eyes on the ones in front of her while Natalya focused on the ones in front of her. Unknown to them, a person came around the corner, armed with a snipers rifle. "We need to get away from here, we can't take out this many at once." Said Natalya.
"Agreed, but I'm running out of bullets and our car is on the other side of the house. Any ideas then?" Asked Lara.
"Just one, but you'll both need to cover your ears."
Lara and Winston looked confused as Natalya took a deep breath and let out a piercing shriek that would have made the Sirens jealous. The creatures around them began shaking, becoming very confused and agitated, and that was the opening they needed. The White Mercedes came speeding through the gates, running over everything in it's path as it swerved to the side, Michael and Joseph quickly opening the doors for the to get in. As Lara and Natalya defended the car so Winston could get in, the sniper on the roof had regained his senses after Natalya's shriek attack. He took aim at them, looking through his scope as he aimed the rifle at Winston's heart. Lara heard the click of the gun's barrel and saw the man aiming at Winston. "Winston! Watch out!" Cried Lara, pushing Winston into Natalya as the assailant fired the gun.
"Lara!" Shouted Natalya, and released both Glaives into the air as the monsters descended up on them.
But it was too late to stop the bullet. Lara's world went into slow motion as the bullet passed through the centre of her chest, through her back and into the ground. Winston turned in time to catch her falling body, and Michael reached over to pull her inside. Natalya quickly got in the front and slammed the door closed as Joseph slammed his foot down on the accelerator and sped away before anything else attacked them.
As he drove, Natalya ripped off her coat and gave it to her father, who was trying to stop the bleeding. "Lady Croft, hold on." Said Winston, who was tearing his coat into shreds to act as bandages.
"Winston, where's the nearest hospital?" Asked Natalya.
"10 miles away, it's the closest one to this village."
"Dad…can she make it?"
Michael was still trying to stem the flow, and shook his head solemnly. "The amount she's bleeding, it's amazing she's made it this far." He answered.
For Lara, their voices were drowned out by the pain in her chest…and the thumping in her ears. "My heart…I can feel it…slowing down…This is it…I'm really dieing after all this." She thought, the thumping beginning to slow down and Lara felt even weaker.
"You have to do something…she can't die!" Cried Winston, clutching Lara's hand tightly.
"I'm sorry Winston…the bullet must've nicked a major artery for her to be bleeding this much. There's nothing we can do and she won't make it to the hospital." Said Michael.
Winston held Lara's hand and she squeezed it back. Her breath was becoming shallower as her lungs filled with her blood, the rise and fall of her chest starting to stop. "Father, we can't do anything now…but what if we take her back to New York, we can to the IH to save her." Said Natalya, turning towards her father with a hopeful look on her face.
"IH? What is that? You're talking nonsense while Lara is dieing." Snapped Winston.
Michael nodded in understanding to his daughter and turned to Winston. "Winston, we need to take you both to New York, we have equipment that can save Lara after she's gone. But you have to trust us, we won't allow her to die just yet." He said.
"Please, just save her." Begged Winston.
Michael quickly pulled out a golden glove from his suit pocket and place it over Lara's forehead. "Sleep now Lara…when you awake, you will be on your way to being healed. I promise." He said, before the glove began glowing.
A light passed over Lara, and she felt a warm feeling wash over her. The image of Winston and Michael over her darkened as she fell into a deep slumber. The last words she heard before succumbing to the spell were…"There was the tiniest spark of life left, but it's enough to get her to New York."
~~~Meanwhile.~~~
The phone began beeping and a black gloved hand picked up the receiver. "Yes." A female voice answered.
"It is done M'lady, Lara Croft is dead. The bullet I fired went straight through her." Said a male voice.
"Excellent, I knew you could do it."
"But we hit a road block in your plan…the plan was for me to…acquire her corpse and bring it to you. But…"
"But? But what? How hard is it to steal a dead body?"
"There was something we didn't anticipate ma'am…Someone arrived and was helping Croft fighting the army. They were about to get away, I had to take the shot while I could."
"So you don't know if Lara is really dead, you just know you shot her."
"I hit her right through the centre of her chest, she would've bled out within minutes and the nearest hospital was 10 miles away. There's no way she could've made it in that condition."
"Lara Croft has made it out of an exploding volcanic island, a tomb falling on her, several explosions and Hellhiem with barely a scratch on her, and despite the fact that the bullet may have pierced her heart, you think she won't fight with everything she has left."
"Considering what has happened to her recently, how much do you think she has left?"
"That woman is too stubborn to die…but in case of the possibility that she has, we need to find those that took her. I want that body."
"I managed to get the license plate of the car that took her, I'm sending it now."
A message beeped on her computer and she brought it up, and clenched her fist in anger. "I'll find out who this belongs to, you on the other hand better be back here within 2 days because when we do find her, you're going to make sure that she's dead this time." She snapped slamming the phone down.
She got up and turned to the wall behind her, walking up to it and pushing a stone block into the wall. The wall raised to reveal a cell with a bundle of blankets in the middle.. "It seems your reputation for being very lucky was right Lady Croft. But that won't save you. You took away the only family I had, and now I'll take away everything you have left." She said to herself.
Walking up to the cell, she pressed the button on the wall and flipped on the lights. "It seems that Lady Croft is more resilient than I anticipated." She said.
There was movement from underneath the bundle and a figure emerged from underneath them. "Can't you let a guy sleep for more that 20 minutes?" He snapped.
"Quite! I was speaking to you!!" She shouted at him.
"Look, just because one of your plans failed don't take it out on me…again."
"I never said it failed…my sniper did hit Lara…he just doesn't know if she's dead since she had help getting away. Someone who drives a White Mercedes showed up and saved her backside."
"And what's that got to do with me? You've been harvesting me for the last year, how the hell should I know who Lara's hooked up with?"
"Don't get clever, remember that I'm the one who saved your life and you helping me with my experiments is small compensation. Now, you better get back to sleep, the stage of the cloning experiments begins in a few hours."
She strutted away from him, as he sighed in annoyance and fell back to sleep. "The Last of the Lux Veritatis, his cells have made a fine army. Once they're fully grown, I'll exact the revenge of my family." She hissed.
She snapped the lights off and walked away, leaving her prisoner with his thoughts. "Lara, this woman is so dangerous…please, be alright and stay away from her." He thought, before collapsing in pure exhaustion.