Morgan
AN: Hello all! How are you all doing?
Here's a little bit more than two seconds of spotlight for Kurtis.
"What are you doing here?" Kurtis asked.
"I could ask you the same question." Brilliant, Lara thought, the first time I see him in four months and it's the start of an argument,
"Doesn't have to be if you don't want it to be," Kurtis said, sitting down on the couch beside Mason.
"I forgot you could do that," Lara said while sitting back down, referring to his mind reading tricks.
"Miss Croft, this is Kurtis Trent. But I'm sure you already know that. He will be joining us." Mason said, giving an unwanted introduction.
"You said other two. The last time I checked, Kurtis was only one person." Lara said, not making eye contact with Kurtis. This was what she wanted, wasn't it? To be reunited with him. Yet, with him just a few feet away from her, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. For what? He was the one that left, she argued with herself.
"Yes, there is someone else."
"Brat's upstairs." Kurtis cut in, "I knew teenagers were bad, but that girl's got some mood on her."
"Teenager? You're dragging a child into this? You're making a child supposedly fight for the human race when she can barely understand what that means?" Lara asked.
"To be fair, she got herself into it," Mason handed Lara the paper she had read a few days ago at the manor. "Ran away. Has powers. Knew she was Lux, didn't say anything. I met her when she was a child and she knew where to go."
He was referring to the girl Lara had read about in the papers. She had learned the girl was only fifteen, how on earth was she supposed to fight to the death? Then it came back to her; the girl she had seen on the train was the girl in the picture.
Making an introduction for herself, the girl appeared at the top of the stairs, above the rest of the group, "Whens this other woman getting here? I'm bored out my skull,"
"Lara's here," Kurtis pointed out.
"Oh. Hello. I'm Morgan. I assume you're the world famous Lara Croft. I'm sure you already know about me, hearing about the young idiot of a girl that ran way and all."She sighed. Lara listened to the girl's strong accent. It was a lot more obvious than Mason's, probably because they were from different parts of the country.
"Nice to meet you." she smiled.
"You don't have to act formal in front of me. I'm just the average Glaswegian." she made her way down the stairs, sitting in an armchair, helping herself to a cup of tea. "Compared to Mr Fifer here, I'm a tramp."
"Don't start Morgan," Kurtis groaned.
"How did you know to come here?" Lara asked Morgan, ignoring the fed up Kurtis.
"Well, Mason's my older cousin. A rubbish one at that. He didn't even bother to come forward and foster me. And he left me to train myself. I almost killed a social worker the other day. But that's not why I left."
"Why did you leave then?"
"I've been having trouble lately. My best friend killed herself recently and it's been hard to keep my powers bottled up. I've been planning on leaving for a while, but when Mason sent me a letter asking for help, I took the opportunity"
"How did you get out then?"
"What is this, twenty questions? When are we leaving?"
"Tomorrow morning." Mason said, "Give Lara her rest and we'll head up at the closing time. There will be less people there."
"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you planning on doing with the artefact's?" Lara asked.
"We need to travel to a Nephilim Stronghold that we are yet to figure out where it is. Morgan, Kurtis and I will do most of the work. But we need you to help us find the artefact's and delay Karel for as long as you can."
"Do I get a say in this?"
"You said you would help us."
"I didn't say I was willing to stall a Nephilim! Do you have any idea what that could mean?"
"She's right," Kurtis cut in, "Karel will kill her instantly. There's no way she could hold him off."
"Oh, thanks for the support."
"I was just stating the obvious."
"Oh will you two stop! You're acting like a married couple!" Morgan said.
"I'll be upstairs," Kurtis sighed, getting up and heading upstairs.
"Oh, yeah! You run away!" Morgan shouted after him. She turned back to the rest of the group, sipping at her tea.
A few moments of silence past before Mason spoke,"Should I show you to your room?" he sigehd at Kurtis and Morgan's behaviour.
"As long as it's not next to hers, I'll be fine." she smiled.
"I'm not that bad." Morgan defended herself. Well, she had been told she was a little bit much at times, but what can she say?
"I beg to differ." Mason led Lara up the stairs, leaving Morgan sulking in her seat.
The hall to her room was just as grand as the rest of the house. Elegant pictures hung on the wall, china and gold ornaments being found here and there. How much money did this man actually have? It took being a Lady for Lara to have this much money, so he must have worked his ass off to earn what he had. Zip had mentioned him being a business man, though. Maybe that was the reason he was as rich as he was. "Here we are." Mason left Lara in front of a room. She opened the door and immediately dumped her bags down on the ground, walking over to the bed and throwing herself onto it, the mattress below her not expecting the amount of weight it had just been forced to support.
She looked up at the ceiling, so many feelings swarming throughout her being. She liked the feeling of going back to raiding, but hated the feeling of knowing what a threat the person they would be duelling was. When she thought back to the young girl downstairs, she couldn't help but laugh to herself. With her, Morgan had obviously brought a package load of hormones and an attitude to match. Mason seemed rather welcoming, something she hadn't seen someone act like to a stranger in a long time. And then there was seeing Kurtis again. They had barley been in the room a minuet together and the only words they spoke were words of anger. Shouldn't she feel happy? She had wanted to see him for who knows how long, and when she set her eyes upon his face, she couldn't help but feel somewhat angry at him. She didn't know why; maybe it was just a natural reaction for her to feel anger.
A knock came to her door and she sat up, "Come in," she sighed.
She looked up to the doorway as Kurtis entered the room. "Oh, hello."
"Hey. I'm sorry about earlier. It's just... I've been stuck thinking... a lot. About Karel. How is he still alive? I thought you said he was dead?" he sat down beside her on the bed.
"I thought I killed him. There was an explosion that sent a beam of light straight threw him. Then the whole place went up. I'm surprised he could survive a whole building coming down on him." she laughed. "But it makes me worry; if he survived that, then how on earth are we supposed to kill him?"
"I've been worrying a bit much as well. And it doesn't help that we have to put up with that thing downstairs." he ran a hand threw his already messy hair.
"How does she know how to control her powers?"
"Well, her dad died just a few years back, one of the last to survive the Lux war and her mum died after her fifth birthday. Her dad probably trained her before he died. Other than that, I don't know anything. Except to not make her angry."
"Why?" she smiled. She was starting to feel a little bit more comfortable around him, just focusing on a casual conversation.
"When she came here just before you, she was in a right mood. I told her to calm down which made her angrier. Almost turned my arm to ash." he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a burn on both sides of his arm. "Just a little damage. Nothing much, but that's because she said she was having a laugh. She seems to be quite strong for her age."
Lara laughed at the picture of Kurtis begging a fifteen year old girl to stop hurting him. She needed to ask a question that, whatever answer he gave, would probably hurt her inside. It's not that she wanted to ask the question, but she knew she would have to sooner or later. If he said 'fine', she would feel upset that he hadn't missed her. And if he said 'not well', she would feel that it was her causing him the pain. "How have you been?"
"Well, crap, really." Oh, brilliant, Lara thought, go and make me feel guilty, why don't you? "If I'm honest, I've missed you. What about you?"
"Erm, could be better. Bryce isn't around. He left for another job. But I've still got my 'geeks' so don't worry, nothings changed." Why couldn't she just be honest with him? He had said openly to her that he missed her. Why couldn't she just do the same? It wouldn't be lying. God knows she missed him. So much she had become temporarily depressed after Paris. It wasn't as if it was a difficult task; she only needed to open her mouth and say the words, it wasn't as if it wasn't possible. But she knew she would get hurt again if she opened up to him. She would tell him how she felt and he would leave like what he did four months ago.
"Really, Bryce's gone?"
"Yep. He left me for a better-" Lara and Kurtis stood straight up, snapping themselves out of their conversation and heading towards Lara's bedroom door. They had heard a banging at the front door and then shouting. "Stay here," Lara said to Kurtis as she stealthed to the end of the corridor, ducking as she reached the banister. She peered down as mercenaries flooded the house. They stood in a semi-circle as a figure walked into the house, giving them instructions before they headed in the directions they were given.
Lara stood and sprinted back to her room and Kurtis. She entered the room and quietly but quickly shut the door behind her, going straight for her suitcase and throwing it on top of the bed. "Mercenaries, lots."
"Do you think it's...?" he left the question hanging.
"I think so." she unzipped her case, taking out her dual pistols and inserting clips after putting them back together.
"Oh, brilliant." he said sarcastically, removing his gun from his shoulder holster.
"Take these." Lara handed him some sticky grenades and he put them in his small pack connected to his belt.
"You planning on blowing up his house?" he smiled. They made their way over to the door, opening it slightly as Lara looked down each way to the corridor before exiting with her guns in her hands. Wait, what about Mason and Morgan? Lara felt Kurtis enter mind.
If they're as good as you say they are, then they'll be fine. Which one's Morgan's room? She crept along the corridor. You're right at it, he nodded forwards, motioning to a room just in front of Lara.
Slowly, while Kurtis kept a look out, Lara opened Morgan's door to see her lying on her bed, reading a magazine. She looked up at Lara, "Don't you knock?" her eyes traced down to Lara's hand where her guns were, "Why have you got those?"
"Safety. Come on." she waved her over. Morgan got up and walked over to Lara, "Why? I swear if this is just to give me an earful, you're going to get the same as Kurtis."
"Shh. If you think these are bad, how would you like the big men downstairs to shoot you with bigger ones?" she whispered as they joined Kurtis out in the hall.
"I know what mercenaries are, I'm not stupid. What am I meant to do? I'll end up getting myself killed or run around like a headless chicken until they decide to shoot me. I don't have guns like you."
"Keep your voice down." Kurtis warned, "And just use your powers, you were boasting about them before, now how do you feel about actually using them?"
"I'm fine." she shoved Kurtis up against the wall using a mental surge of energy. "But are you?"
"You were the one that said we were acting like a married couple, now you're acting like brother and sister." Lara cut in.
"Sister to that thing! Yeah, right." she let Kurtis drop to the floor as Lara continued down the hall, following after her, Kurtis behind her.
"Yeah, well you certainly wouldn't win the 'sister of the year' award."
"Oh, for God's sake, will you two shut up!" Lara said, turning around to face them. "If you don't stop talking, you'll get us all killed." she turned back round, continuing down the hall.
She stopped at the banister, lightly leaning over to see if anyone was below. "I'll go down just now. I'll tell you when it's safe to come down." she hopped over the banister, grunting as she hit the ground.
The room was empty, probably meaning Karel's men were after something and they knew where to get it. She hugged the wall as she made her way threw the hall and into the dining room. She peered around the corner and pulled her head back as bullets were fired. She jumped round, holding her guns in the air, but sighed with relief when she saw Mason standing there. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Getting rid of these bastards. What about you? You almost had my head off," she checked back round the corner. Something wasn't right. It was too quiet.
"I need to get something. You, Kurtis and Morgan meet me outside in about five minuets. I won't be long." she watched as he ran off in the opposite direction, exiting the room before she had the chance to object. She turned around and headed into the other room. Looking around, she could see it was like a smaller lounge, with just a seating set, coffee table, bookcase and desk. She stepped into it and felt a hand covering her mouth.
She screamed against the hand, but her cries weren't heard, the force of the hand being too strong. She dropped her guns to the ground and struggled against the man's grip, trying to get the hand off of her mouth. She felt the point of a knife appearing at her back and she became more alarmed. Desperately trying to get away, she bit the hand and the grip slackened, giving her an opportunity to get away. She ducked under the man's arm and grabbed her guns, quickly shooting her attacker in the head. That's stealth out the window, she thought as she heard more footsteps come to her position.
She stepped out of the doorway and three guards blocked her exit. Looking back, she was trapped by a wall. All the mercenaries trained their guns on her head, meaning if she tried something, there was a big chance she would get shot. Looking behind them, she could see Kurtis aiming a gun at the centre mercenaries back. She trained her guns at the other two guards and both her and Kurtis simultaneously fired, the bullets piercing the flesh of the guards, two of them falling towards her, the other towards Kurtis. "Thanks." she said as she stepped over the guards, "Where's Morgan?"
"Having fun." he rolled his eyes. They exited into the larger hall where Morgan was standing, holding a guard up in the air, constantly hitting him with his own gun. She was laughing quietly to herself. "Morgan, stop it." Lara looked around, searching for any guards that were just waiting to pop out at them. Morgan turned around to look at them, "I'm just having-" she was thrown across the room in the middle of her sentence. Lara and Kurtis watched as Karel emerged from the adjoining room, standing in the middle of a line of mercenaries.
"Well, look what we have here. Lady Croft. I must say, it's a pleasure to meet you again." he smiled smugly.
"Shame I can't say the same to you," Lara said threw gritted teeth.
"We won't trouble you, don't worry. All we want is the girl and then we'll be off," he clicked his fingers and two guards went over to Morgan who was lying on the ground, barley conscious. They forced her up and she pushed them aside, "Don't you touch me with your pork chops,"
In reply, she was hit over the head, temporarily teaching her her lesson. "Thank-you kindly. We'll be off now." he waved his hand and all the guards lifted their guns to aim them at Lara and Kurtis. He left the room and Lara and Kurtis heard the safety of the guards rifle's being taken off.
Thinking quickly, Lara dove behind a piece of furniture, dragging Kurtis down with her. She felt the impact of the bullets hit the couch and stood up, firing a quick few shots before ducking back down to empty her clips. Both Lara and Kurtis stood up and began firing while making their way to the exit Karel had taken with Morgan. Lara left Kurtis to finish off the remaining mercenaries while she ran after the fleeing Karel. She stopped as she saw them standing in a small room, this time a study and was amazed to see Morgan fending for herself over someone as powerful as Karel. She had him on the ground, but seemed to be gripping her side, as if she had been hit there.
Lara entered the room and placed her hands on Morgan's shoulders, looking past her onto the ground where Karel lay. He began to stir and Lara immediately reached for her guns at her side. "Go get Kurtis and meet Mason outside. I'll be out soon," I hope she silently added at the end.
Morgan looked up to Lara with tears in her eyes before turning and running after Kurtis. Karel stood up as Lara turned around to face him again. "You're a fool to challenge me, Lara."
"And?" she asked sarcastically.
He shoved her up against the wall mentally and Lara felt an invisible force close around her throat. She dropped her guns and scratched at her neck to release the grip of the mental hand, to no avail. She kicked out and knocked a vase over, it smashing at Karel's feet. He looked down, dropping Lara to the ground and he picked a piece of the vase up and held it close to his face. He looked up at Lara who was slowly edging her way to the window. He knelt down beside her and pulled her face close to his, "Now, what would happen if this was to slip from my hand?" he held the shard close to her face.
"What would happen if I was to do this?" she head-butted his head and it went straight for the shard, scraping at his skin as it impaled his cheek. Lara quickly got to her feet and made her way over to the window as Karel stood, nursing his wound. She looked around for something to break the window with; her guns being next to Karel and it being to risky to cut the glass herself. She picked up an ornament and smashed at the window, the glass being thrown outwards, some specs cutting at her face and hands. She stood back and cleared the broken glass from the window-sill, looking back to Karel who had just realised what she had done.
Without any further hesitation, she hopped out of the window, running for the front gates of the house. When she got there, she could see two bikes, Mason and Morgan on one and Kurtis on the other. She stopped, looking back at the house and then sprinted forward, jumping onto the bike behind Kurtis. "It's about time," he said as he revved the bike up.
Following Mason and Morgan, he drove out of the gates, heading into the empty streets of Berwick.
"Two rooms please." Lara sighed as she reached the reception at the hotel they would be staying at that night. "Make that two adjoining rooms." They would be staying there until the morning, then heading to Mason's other home not far from the hotel.
"Family holiday?" the lady at the reception asked with a smile. Lara looked over her shoulder to the rest of the group. They were sitting at the lounge of the hotel. Mason was sitting over a laptop, looking quiet and peaceful and on the other side, Kurtis and Morgan were bickering. Yet again. "Anything but," Lara laughed. "You think I could put up with this lot?"
"I understand." the lady smiled. "We've just got two rooms left. It's been quite busy recently." she handed Lara four room keys and she picked her backpack up and headed back to the group after saying thank-you to the receptionist.
Lara would be sharing a room with Morgan, Kurtis and Mason sharing the other. Whether it was a good idea to share a room with a moody teenager, or not, Lara would prefer it over sharing a room with Mason and if she had to share a room at Kurtis, she knew she would have to scream into a pillow to stop the temptation of falling for him again.
The group walked up the stairs, exiting into the room that would be Lara and Morgan's. Lara flopped down in the bed, chuckling lightly to herself. "Just like old times, eh?" Kurtis laughed, sitting down on the small wooden chair next to a makeshift desk.
"You used to do that all the time?! Have you lost all trace's of sanity?! I've had the odd fight but never with giant lumps of fat with guns." Morgan said.
"We kind of used to make it a substitute living." he laughed again.
"Oh, good to know. I'm stuck under the protection of two physco's and a Norman."
"You should be grateful Lara and Kurtis know what they're doing." Mason cut it, making his way to the door that led to Kurtis' and his room.
"Is it alright for me to go to sleep, or do I have to sleep with one eye open?" Morgan asked with a surprisingly serious face.
"You're safe from me." Kurtis held his hands up in mock surrender, "It's her you need to watch. She sleepwalks with her guns." he joked, getting up and walking over to the door, Lara kicking him on the way out, "I do not, don't listen to him." she got up and walked over to the bathroom door, closing the door behind her.
Morgan walked over to the mirror on the other side of the door that led into the hall, and lifted her top up slightly, revealing a growing burn. She placed a hand on it and closed her eyes, fighting the pain that soared throughout her being.
Lara opened the door to the bathroom and rushed over to Morgan after seeing a patch of light pink skin on her back, indicating a burn. She turned her around, "My God, Morgan. Is this what he did to you?" she said, looking into the girl's blue eyes. She slowly nodded her head and pulled her top down. Lara walked over to her bed, fishing in her back-pack for a bandage she could use to cover the wound.
She motioned for Morgan to sit on the bed. She did as instructed and lifted her top up as Lara leaned around her, wrapping the bandage lightly around the girls waist. She cringed slightly as the material connected with her skin, closing her eyes.
"That's it." Lara reassured and Morgan opened her eyes to see Lara kicking her boots off, throwing her jacket over the chair. "You should get some sleep, it's late." she walked around to the side of her bed, pulling the covers aside and switching the lamp light off, entering the bed. The soft pillow and warm sheets immediately greeted her, making Lara feel more comfortable than what she was.
"Night Lara." Morgan said, coming from the direction of the other bed.
"Goodnight Morgan."
Lara couldn't sleep. She stared up at the ceiling, only to be faced with plain white paint. It was too difficult to sleep. So many thoughts were swarming in her mind. She did that a lot lately; thinking.
She had been forced into the mess with Karel, barely being able to say the word 'yes' before he had tracked them down and attempted to take Morgan. Why was it that they needed her? There didn't seem to be anything important about her; she had exactly the same capability as Kurtis and Mason. Which, if Lara told the truth, impressed her a little bit. And now they were on the run. Again. Might she add. That was something else she did a lot. And they were now pressured into getting the sword and shield before Karel. AND they had find out where this Nephilim Stronghold was. She turned over onto her side so she was now facing Morgan.
She looked surprisingly peaceful, something Lara should take advantage of. Her hair was messed up in it's ponytail and was falling over her face. Her cheek was squashed against the pillow, making her lips look bigger and stick out. Lara laughed quietly as Morgan snored quietly, kicking out in her sleep.
She turned back to face the ceiling. And then there was the obvious reason why she couldn't get to sleep. How could she when Kurtis was so close to her? Sure, there was a wall between him, but that didn't stop the unwelcome feelings soaring threw her. Did he feel like this as well? She knew they would be working close together again, and each time she would see him, she knew it would kill her inside. Like it was now; just thinking about him.
She knew that in some point of their adventure, she would have to tell him how she really felt. Something she didn't want to do. And would he say he felt the same? Would he say he felt the same and then just leave for Lara's 'safety' again?
Lara couldn't sleep. But she needed to. They had a very big task ahead of them. And sleep was the only rest she would get.
There you go. You got a whole chapter of Kurtis. Who likes Morgan? She seems a little bit...I don't know how to describe it... to me she seemed to be a little bit, erm, I don't know how to explain it.
See you on Monday!