Chapter 14

At the back of the Louvre, Lara snuck to the storm drains. She pried the maintenance hole open and slid down the slope, landing in what looked like the watering system.

Just where I need to be.

Following the tunnel forward to a shallow pool, Lara saw a tunnel underwater. She hopped down into the shallow water.

I hate cold water in the winter.

Ignoring the icy water, Lara dived and followed the wide tunnel, entering the narrow passage on the left which sloped downward. Wading into the water, Lara swam forward to a small flooded room where several tunnels converged.

Might have to find a place where I can shut down the water.

Finding no exit, Lara climbed a ladder to a small room with a valve. It was sealed with a cage. Lara opened Werner's notebook and found a small piece of the Louvre.

"If I want to go underground I'll need to go to the main office to unlock some of the locks."

Need to find the main office.

Taking out the map, Lara examined it again.

I need to get to that part but it's blocked off by a fan.

She scanned the paper in her hand, memorizing where she needed to go to put the fan off. Folding the map, Lara followed the narrow hallway and continued through two open doors to another wider tunnel. Turning right, Lara kept going to a hub where numerous wider tunnels met.

A deep hole gaped in the middle of the hub. She stumbled as she strolled around the sloping rim.

That was close. If I fall in the hole, I'm dead.

Lara looked at the water falling above, taking out the map again and scanning through it.

That's my way to get into the Louvre.

Lara went to the left, after placing the map back in her backpack and climbing the pipe. She reached the walkway above and pulled herself up.

Lara followed the walkway around the edge of the room until she found a switch and shut it off.

That should stop the huge fan in the other room.

There's another valve on the other side of the gap in the walkway but it was way too wide for Lara to jump.

I'll find another way to that valve.

Returning to the pipe and climbing back down to the lower level, Lara went all the way around the edge of the room to the tunnel with the big curved pipe sticking out of it.

She followed the tunnel away from the hub.

Near the end of this tunnel, there was a short ladder on the right. She climbed the ladder to reach the fan she turned off, but the fan was missing a blade.

I'll need to move it so the broken part is at the opening and I can crawl through with no trouble.

Lara tugged at the fan's blades so it spun until the other side was at the opening. The part that was missing its blade.

That should do it.

Lara crawled on all fours under the fan and continued forward to the first valve switch. She turned the valve until it closed completely.

One down, a few more to go.

Lara found a vent ahead. Peering through it, Lara found herself atop the main office. She pried the vent open and slipped down into the main office. The switch to open the cage for the next valve stuck out of the wall.

Now to check if it's opened.

Climbing back up the vent's opening, Lara crawled back underneath the fan and vaulted over the railing into the wider tunnel, going left to the hub. She went around the edge of the room and into the opposite tunnel. Following it nearly to the end and going through the passage on the left, she continued to the small room again where she had been before.

It worked.

Opening the cage, Lara turned the second valve and heard a click that told her that it was starting to work. She followed the narrow hallway back to the tunnel, turning right and back into the hub.

She went to the left and climbed the vertical pipe again to reach the middle level of the hub, walking across the black and yellow crossbeam and turning the third valve.

Water began filling the shaft below.

Lara walked back out to the middle of the black and yellow crossbeam and dropped from there into the pool.

Taking a deep breath, Lara swam down the long tunnel. Lara swam past the twist and turns with ease and reached the next room.

Using the collapsed catwalk as a ladder to climb out of the pool and follow the walkway to a break in the railing, Lara jumped straight up to grab the horizontal pipe and shimmied out to the middle of the room. Dropping onto another black and yellow crossbeam, she walked to the left and turned the fourth valve.

This is too easy.

Lara returned to the middle of the crossbeam and jumped up to the pipe, shimmying across to the other side. She climbed the bent catwalk to get up top. She followed the walkway around the room counterclockwise and jumped the gap where the walkway was broken.

Lara found the fifth valve and turned it until it closed. Returning along the catwalk, she jumped the gap as she did before, walking to the edge of the bent section where she climbed out, jumping forward to grab the next section of the walkways and pulling herself up. She went through the door and followed the hallway, emerging back at the top of the first hub.

How many valves are left before the water's closed?

Lara walked out onto the black and yellow crossbeam. She stood under the narrow pipe running across the shaft and jumped up to grab it, traversing all the way across and dropping onto the small ledge near the sixth valve. When she turned the valve, the water stopped gushing from the huge pipe sticking out of the wall.

Lara jumped up and grabbed the narrow pipe once more. She climbed hand over hand along the pipe and dropped down onto the black and yellow beam. Walking to the far end, she jumped into the big pipe that had been previously blocked by flowing water. Lara smiled as she climbed into the smaller pipe within, opening a door to the area she needed to be.

Now to find the right spot to blow a hole in the wall.

As Lara stepped to the other side, she sniffed the acrid air.

I smell some oil.

Lara dropped down safely to the walkway below and took out the map. In the room, there were two fuel tanks. On the map, Lara saw that one of the fuel tanks was under a lot of building material and the other one was far away from the building material.

If I blow up the right one, the room might stay intact but if I choose the left one it might be a messy situation.

Placing the map back, Lara followed the walkway along the edge of the pool and approached the large tank. She took out an explosive device and placed it on the tank.

I better dive.

Lara backflipped into the water before the tank exploded. She stayed underwater as the explosion went off and the fuel scorched the surface.

Lara looked around underwater and found two openings. She headed to the pipe nearest to the fuel tanks and took a left, then the next right, and then she turned left again. Just beyond, the pipe sloped out of the water, and Lara ran up the tunnel to the opening, overlooking the flaming pool.

Better be careful.

Lara safely dropped from the tunnel opening to the walkway below, turning to face the pool and going to the left. She followed the walkway to the ladder and climbed up, jumping to the ledge in front of the left set of fuel tanks. From there, she flipped to the left, taking care not to land on the fire.

That was too close.

Making her way through the hole she made in the wall, Lara seemed to be in a lower gallery of the Louvre, with a gold door lying ahead.

I'm in.