Hello readers! :)
So I'm back with another update! This chapter gave me a pretty tough time.. At times I felt it just droned on and on.. Then I realised I need to curtail minute details :p
Once again - many, many thanks to wyverndragon, Ferilium, nemesis and Jessica151294 for reviewing! *hugs all and hands out cookies!*
As to who the lady is.. I've done tonnes of historical research into various hidden orders and sects.. My original plot for this story was very simple, however I'm now adding more layers and more secrecy into everything.. Therefore it'd be a while before things start becoming clearer.. You'd just have to bear the bickering duo until then :D
Disclaimer: Own nothing but the plot... Sadly :/
Chapter 6: Serendipity
Lara paced the length of her hotel room, massaging her temples and trying to think and ignore the beginnings of a terrible migraine. Kurtis seated himself upon the sofa, clad in tattered trousers, boots and a stolen jacket wrapped over his bandaged torso, giving him the look of a modern tragic hero. Leg stretched onto a small coffee table, a cigarette dangled from his lips, the burning nicotine annoying Lara to the point where she felt like a powder-keg ready to explode.
"Kurtis Trent – you are a disgusting man," she shot icily from her end of the room.
Kurtis nonchalantly proceeded to inhale deeply, letting the smoke out in an exaggerated plume, gazed fixed straight at some point on the wall that he found incessantly fascinating.
"I've been called worse," he returned tonelessly, mind far away from their current verbal spar.
Closing her eyes to block out a wave of fury, Lara mentally counted to ten before exhaling loudly. "Smoking aside, my oh-so-misunderstood friend," her words dripped with bitter sarcasm. Kurtis merely blinked, gaze still affixed ahead.
"You're implying you haven't the slightest as to why the Proto's still alive. Despite you presumably killing it. The last of a revered Order. Have you any idea what you're saying?"
"Hurm..."
Lara marched from her side of the room toward Kurtis, lifted his foot off the coffee table and let it fall to the ground, the consequential jerk shaking Trent out from his thoughts. She seated herself opposite the demon hunter, where his foot rested a moment ago.
"You're saying," Lara continued, fixing a death-glare on the man opposite her, "that dozens of people were butchered this fine day, because you did not finish the job correctly. And furthermore, you can't recall a single useful bit of information as to how-"
"Jesus Christ! Are you done yet, Croft?!" Azure orbs flared with anger. "I told you – I told you all I know! I cannot even begin to imagine how the part-Nephilim survived the Shards!" he paused before standing up and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Ahh, yes… I'm sure hybrid mutant-devils have no place amongst the unicorns and rainbows of your dreamland-"
"If I'm at fault for not killing the Proto properly, which I sure as hell did - then you are at equal fault for letting the damned thing out in the first place!" he returned hotly, pointing a tapered finger at Lara, before feigning a concerned expression. "So my sincere apologies, Miss Croft, but I don't do blame-games with death at a spitting distance." He spoke with his jaws grinding, smoke billowing from his mouth as the cigarette neared its end, tone icy and bitter.
Lara felt a tad ashamed of attacking him like she did, though she obviously hid it well. It was both their fight, and she knew she was wrong in venting everything out on him. But habit had always dictated her returning with an even sharper reply whatever the argument. However illogical. That was Lara Croft.
Yet she was interrupted though, by a weak blare resounded from the telephone. Kurtis walked over and attended the phone, listening a while with an arched eyebrow, then offering it to Lara.
"Zip," he said, the name rolling off sarcastically from his tongue.
Grateful for a change, Lara gladly accepted the receiver, and greeted the friend-cum-employee who she hadn't spoken to in years. The friendly yet serious voice on the other end offered words of praise for her survival skills, condolences for Werner – followed by a few light-hearted comments from "back in the day" when he had helped her infiltrate von Croy Industries. She silently listened and replied politely for a while, only wishing she could pick up a fraction of his forever-jovial mood.
"Now to business," said Zip from the other end. "I followed you in the news - through the whole Monstrum business. Did my own research on everything. The entire thing had Tomb Raider stamped on it from the beginning, if ya ask me…"
"Which I didn't, Zip."
"Hey, take it easy… Now something tells me you ain't alone in all this…"
Lara looked at Kurtis, who was now mimicking her earlier move - pacing around restlessly, and rolled her eyes. "Yes, Zip. I've unfortunately teamed up with the last surviving member of the Lux Veritatis who happens to be as clueless as all of us, if not more-" she was cut off not by Kurtis' indignant glare, but by the tech expert's soft chuckle.
"I'm not talkin' about the blue-eyed soldier-boy, Lara. Did'ya check the news today? After the hospital attack?"
"Uhh… No…" Lara whirled to fetch the television remote, bringing the small dusty screen to life.
"Typical," he said smilingly. "I'll hold on."
Lara cradled the receiver in between her neck and shoulder as she tuned into a TV station that provided news in heavily accented English. A middle-aged, perky-looking red-head in a suit stood in front of the doomed hospital, providing a summary of the barbaric events that rocked the place.
"… an unprecedented sweeping act of mass murder. The Monstrum has struck again! Shortly after 9AM – human and animalistic creatures previously unseen – attacked and killed majority of the patients, doctors and health staff. The MO of this Monstrum attack is entirely different from its previous assassinations. It is being speculated whether the Monstrum was, in fact, a beast rather than a human serial killer.
The supposed Monstrum was also found dead in a distinct manner – stabbed multiple times, decapitated, gutted and disemboweled at the door of the elevator. Though the Forensics have taken the carcass into custody, it is unknown who or what actually killed the murdering beast."
Immediately projected onto the screen was the image of the Proto – censored in many regions of its body – its lifeless head several feet away from its body. The red-glow of its eyes had finally been diminished, and the entire area was covered in muck-greenish brown blood.
Lara and Kurtis, who were unconsciously seated side-by-side inches away from the television screen stared with widened eyes at the sight of the beaten Proto. The phone slipped from Lara's shoulder, falling into her lap, while Kurtis leaned back on one hand and inhaled the last of his fag deeply, muttering obscenities under his breath, absolutely incredulous.
The reporter continued.
"Eye-witnesses and survivors report an unidentified foreign female clad in black had been in the vicinity, and had guided dozens of trapped civilians outside, saving many lives."
A few pictures showed a woman, wearing a black coat – directing civilians. The view was obstructed by police vans and the pillars of the main courtyard, and all that could be seen of the woman in question was a partial side-profile.
Tall, dark-haired, tan, mouth agape in mid-sentence and eyes narrowed.
A billion people could fit the image.
"Lara? Lara you there?" a familiar electronic voice resounded.
Lara snapped out from her shock and promptly recovered the receiver. "I saw that, Zip."
"Yeah… So it seems like you both got yourselves a guardian angel – and a seemingly hot one too."
Lara rolled her eyes. "Ahh… The delightful serendipity of coming across a saviour in the guise of a civilian… Now where have I heard that before?"
"You really wanna hear it? OK. There's you. And there's that soldier-boy, to an extent, I think…"
She sighed exasperatedly. "Undoubtedly she helped save many lives, Zip – but… this woman killing the Proto?" Kurtis glanced at Lara, eyes curious and questioning. "I'd take that with a bucket of salt."
"Why not?" Zip returned, almost sanguine. "The armed forces flopped. The gal's a foreigner, they say, and a damn tourist had no business in that area. There is no footage showin' who exactly killed the Proto-thing, but its dead for sure. I'd bet my brand-new tracker-system we've got our killer!"
It was rare for Zip to make so much sense in logic, all at once. And Lara found herself compelled to believe his theory. Nevertheless, the fact that the Proto returned from the dead held enough weight for the seasoned adventurer to be absolutely sure of all information, wary of all dangers.
As if reading her mind, Kurtis spoke to her – "Ask him to do a get full ID and bio-data on her. The picture's not much, I know, but..." There was no need to continue.
Lara nodded before repeating the same to her tech expert, and commanding him to get back to her with quick results, on the woman as well as his research on the Monstrum.
"Gotcha!" and with that, the line went dead.
The cordless receiver in lap, Lara felt stunned. Normally calm in the face of adversary, she felt she needed a moment to collect her thoughts together. That Samaritan could be just that – an ordinary passerby who had yet to strangle her conscience. Or she could be an unforeseen player of this dangerous game.
Ever since she got involved in this, Lara had firsthand, witnessed the destruction, the chaos – and the blood. The endless, copious amounts of crimson splattered on the walls, scrawled in demonic words, pooled on the floor – in Werner's apartment, in the hospital. For a moment, all she could feel was the latent horror of the ordeal she and Trent had just survived – and as her mind unwillingly reeled back to relive the emotions her adrenaline had suppressed only an hour ago.
Blood everywhere.
Blood on her hands.
Like Werner's blood. Lara felt her lungs constrict, heartbeat thunder in her ears, and time slow down. The hair raise at the back of her neck as a chill ran through her body despite the perfectly warm room. She was screaming again, falling into nothingness…
Kurtis noted sweat gather slightly at her brow, fiery brown eyes wide with unspoken emotions, and instantaneously forgot about his anger at her earlier.
"Lara, you okay?" he asked softly, touching a hand to her shoulder.
No matter how fast she ran, she could not outrun her destiny.
Sprinting into the freezing streets of Prague, the lone dark figure sought comfort in the whispers of the wind in her ears. If only she could drown out the whimpers, cries, screams as innocent blood was split. If only she could escape from those gory corridors, the demonic writing only she could read, and the stench of death.
She paused all of a sudden – allowing her vision to swim back to focus. Pulse throbbing and chest heaving, she found herself surrounded by trees. She walked toward a clearing that led to the famed Charles Bridge.
The area was deserted. Despite being a weekday, the horrors of the hospital had government officials warning all locals to avoid outdoors. She walked forward and let her hood down. Her heartbeat was slowing down, her sanity seemingly returning with it. She clenched her eyes shut for a few seconds, before opening them to an achingly beautiful view of Prague, in all its wintry glory.
Beneath her open coat, she felt the Periapt Shards hum with sheer power at her hip – the Proto's mucky blood still marring its bright crystalline sheen. She retrieved one from her knapsack, shaking, and observed every angle, recalling how she had plunged it deep into the Proto – before cutting its insides open with her army knife.
Artifacts of power, formed by the ore of a meteor by the Templar off-shoot Lux Veritatis. When combined, they can kill any immortal or supernatural being. Typical textbook explanation. Yet her studies revealed far greater power held within these shards. And that was all just the tip of the iceberg.
She looked down toward the dark waters – the chilling wind whipping her few stray raven-strands away from her face. She felt the images from the hospital dance once more in front of her eyes, yet this time, the chaos and complete, utter massacre only brought a sensation of searing rage. Her hands shook with silent fury at the attackers. She narrowed her eyes – hot tears of frustration and anger spilling onto her cheeks, which she wiped away promptly.
The message was delivered - with clarity as outstanding as the horror at the hospital.
But she would not be fazed. She would not falter. Not now, not ever, not again. She had an entire lifetime to ponder over her ventures – but only a precious few days to contemplate a strategy to thwart the next attack.
She inhaled sharply as she glared into the waters, lips pursed tightly, cords in her neck taut with tension.
The message was, indeed, delivered. And it was time to act.
From Rivers of Blood and From Deep Crimson Skies, the Watchers Stalk,
And they will Arise…
The moment passed. Lara snapped to reality – mentally calming down, allowing the wave of panic to pass. This was Prague, not Egypt. Eckhardt was dead, the Proto was dead. She had erased the blood from her hands. . She had evaded insanity. She was not running anymore.
"Lara?" Kurtis repeated, gazing intently at her.
Looking at Kurtis, she gulped before tightening her lips and giving a brief, active nod. Nothing worse than revealing your weaknesses, she thought to herself. She leaned across the bed and fetched her backpack, taking out Werner's notebook and her own to update her findings.
Her mind instantly bombarded her with questions, which she voiced in a startled tone: "Could she have killed the Proto? How? Did she use the Shards? All three of them? I thought everything was taken over by the police! And why? What's her deal in this?" Lara's mind was racing with possibilities – none of which seemed to appease her.
"That woman?" Kurtis questioned, raising an eyebrow. "We're jumping the gun here, Lara. We should cover some common ground first."
Lara mentally halted the thought process concerning the stranger, realising how repetitive it was growing. This mystery was far deeper than just the Mafia, a Cabal based on lunatics and an age-old battle for survival. What they required most was information; raw data - on anyone and anything, to shed some light on their current position.
Who better to harbour such secret knowledge than the last of a kind?
"Tell me more about the Shards, Kurtis."
So there :p
I have most of the next chapter written - so shouldn't take long to update, hopefully. Although I can reveal that the next one will reveal more of the plot.. Or maybe not :p Anyhow, please do review and let me know how this was! Enjoy! :)