Tomb Raider: Points of Power

Summary: Lara Croft finds Kurtis alive and well in a hospital in Prague…of course no sooner do they arrive at Croft Manor then a new challenge arises. Yes ladies and gents…more trouble...actually they get into trouble a bit before that...are the two things connected or are they simply in two messes at once?

Author: Fallen Angel Overlord

Rating: PG

Categories: Action/Adventure/Romance

Chapter 1

The Hall Of Trophies

As Lara climbed the ladder the Chirugai glowed – she knew it would lead her to Kurtis… but would he be alive or dead? Shaking the fears from her mind she continued to climb…her eyes adjusted to the dark and she kept on climbing up. Finally she shoved open a hatch and emerged in the pristine white snow of the Czech snow.

The trucks were parked nearby and it took her 2 minutes to hotwire one and drive out through the gates. If she'd looked around Lara might have found the assorted guards, gutted like fish or burned beyond recognition. But she didn't.

Luvak Hospital – Prague

The pull of the Chirugai was threatening to rip her arm off now; Lara had to run to keep up with its dragging movements. "I see Kurtis has rubbed off on it" she muttered. She finally reached the hospital room. Kurtis was lying on the bed with bandages tightly wrapped around his midsection. The Chirugai sprang from Lara's fingers and landed in Kurtis' hand.

"Lara" murmured Kurtis as he opened his eyes.

"I'm glad you remember me" she said. "How are you?"

"Got stabbed through by a giant insect-scientist…as well as can be expected really" he shrugged. "And yourself?"

"Confused…" she shrugged.

"Eckhardt?"

"Dead"

"You kill him?"

"Karel did…then he tried to kill me" Lara shrugged. "Turns out Karel was a Nephilim or half-Nephilim. He was the one who killed Werner Von Croy and knocked us out at the Louvre"

"Pretences – yeah they can shape shift into any humanoid form they want"

"He could also fly and throw energy at me…I think I preferred Eckhardts clone trick" Lara sighed, she sat down at the foot of the bed. "I destroyed the sleeper and Karel…how did you escape?"

Kurtis frowned. "What?"

"You were impaled…how did you get out of the Vault?"

Kurtis sat up gingerly and winced. "I…I don't know" he frowned, trying to remember. "It's impossible for me to remember…I just can't…"

Lara nodded slowly. "That's strange…someone got into the vault and lugged you out like a sack of potatoes" she cocked her head to one side. "A very puzzling and difficult move"

"Then again would you rather it was you who had to carry me out?"

"Definitely not" she snorted. She opened her backpack. "So…what do we do now?"

"I want to try and start the Lux Veritatus up again" Kurtis said. "But I can't help but feel there are loose ends. Gunderson for one…"

"I know I get that sense too…maybe we should review this all" Lara murmured. "Gunderson was human, so all we have to do is get the police on his trail – then maybe we can get some sort of break."

"Yeah…and I can go back to my pokey little flat in the Parisian Ghettos" snorted Kurtis. Then he slapped his forehead. "Except they burnt it out!"

"The Cabal?" Lara frowned. "Why did they do that?"

"Boaz thought I was still inside, she got some thugs to shoot the place up with me in it, then boarded up the door and set a fire. The whole place was fried – hence the fact I haven't changed my clothes in three or four days and now have a large hole in my shirts. Boaz again I wish I could kill her again to thank her for that…"

Lara sighed. "You can stay with me at Croft Manor" she said at last. "For however long you need to get back on your feet, besides I could use some help with my trophy room"

"You have a trophy room?"

"Just a few things" she shrugged. "Little relics I don't want people to nab, things that could be very dangerous in most cases or could cause a stir in a negative manner. Or just things that hold sentimental value."

Kurtis smiled. "Gee… okay, yeah I'd like that…thanks"

The Prague Archive Halls

The gaunt man scratched the back of his hand as the young woman ran a finger along the spine of the books. " If you could tell me what you wish to find miss… "

" I don't know what I'm looking for " she replied. " But I'll know when I find it "

Luther Rouzic had essentially lived in the archives for 20 years as the Librarian Honorarium of the Prague Archives and he knew better then to ask questions of a woman who had enough control to get herself into the halls by official channels when no one was allowed in and also to be given permission to take what she needed. She was well connected to say the least.

Rouzic just watched as she moved about, searching for the information.

Luvak Hospital

"Doctor I know my friend has been run through" Lara said. "But when can he be moved?"

The Doctor rubbed his forehead. "Your English" he nodded. "Yes…soon, but…well I just came to see if he could clear some things up. He claims he was stabbed through back straight through the chest but when we found him on the steps he had only a wound on his stomach which was stitched up…Why is this? It's an exit wound without an entrance wound – but there is scars on back of him that show he was run through time before…"

"I was stabbed by a freaky bug woman" Kurtis said through his teeth. "How hard can it be to see I was dying?"

Lara reviewed the charts the doctor showed her. "Apparently he's right, you gave a wound on the stomach but although you were bleeding to death it didn't go all the way through and your back only has scar tissue of an impaling wound -"

"But I've only been impaled once, two days ago!" exclaimed Kurtis.

"Another mystery" Lara said. "Calm down…we'll review it all soon, meanwhile we should just find out when you can leave"

"He can go this evening, but he must heal his stitches and not strain too much" the Doctor said in his relatively-okay English.

"Good, we should visit one place before we leave though" Lara said as the doctor left the room. "I need to pick up something from the Archives here"

"What exactly?"

"Just some texts I've been meaning to add to my library" she shrugged.

"You're very boring, you know?"

The Prague Archives

"Can I help you?" Rouvic grated from behind the mesh door. Lara looked at him over her sunglasses. He didn't like the looks of the man and woman outside the door.

"Lara Croft and Kurtis Trent I know we're late but we wanted to pick up some records copied for me" the woman said.

Lara watched Rouvic closely, he was gaunt and pale with a sickly look to him. But he also seemed nervous. "Yes…yes very well…come in" he mumbled. He pulled the bars off the door and let her in.

The Archives weren't open to the public but appointments were made for between noon and six. It was eight at night now. Rouvic was worried – very worried – the woman had made it clear that no one was to enter unless she had given him names to allow in. But if Lady Croft kicked up a storm…well things would get pretty ugly, pretty fast…

"I shall fetch them for you!" he said and rushed off down a hall.

"Something's wrong" Lara whispered.

"I can tell" agreed Kurtis. "Wait a second…" he closed his eyes and thrust out his hands.

Farsee vision zoomed down the halls and followed Rouvic. He stopped at a man in a black suit who nodded as Rouvic spoke: "Two people have come, they're in the lobby, what does she think we should do?" the man jabbed his thumb over his shoulder and Rouzic groaned before hurrying on.

Kurtis could read lips perfectly, it was part of his training and he was very thankful for it. He felt the strain as he continued to follow Rouvic. Then Gunderson appeared. "Two pe-"

"Croft and Trent" Gunderson sneered. "Don't bother her now, I will deal with them".

"But -"

"Just go and aid her…" Rouzic nodded and hurried away, terrified.

Gunderson grinned. "You two, get the others on full alert for a man and a woman…"

Kurtis returned to his body with a gasp. "Gunderson's here. The Librarian is apparently on the pay roll so we'd better get ready for trouble"

Lara pulled out her pistols. "Okay all set" she said. "Let's go and withdraw the books shall we?" she climbed a set of stairs nearby as Kurtis followed. They darted along a landing lined with books. The archives were quiet…except for footsteps…nearby. Lara darted down a passage. "Here" she said. "The records I want should be here"

She looked along the shelf until she found the series of books. "Yes…here!" she grabbed the small red and gold bound tomes. "Wait…one is missing…" she murmured. "The centre book – it's gone…"

"Did someone take it out?" Kurtis suggested as he watched for movement.

"No…no they'd need both books the centre book makes sense of the entire series – this is the only complete set in existence"

"What are they?"

"Books" a woman's voice said. "But these are rare ones, written centuries ago by a mystic who studied a great many things. These books are vital to a mystery long forgotten by mortal man. However the three sets have had an unfortunate accent, some books were destroyed others lost in places they can't be recovered…I have what I need…"

The woman stood at the top of the aisle with a pistol in one hand and her book in the other. "But you two seem not to possess anything you can use – poor you" she pointed the gun at Lara. "Mr Trent, throw down your ingenius little gun please – or I'll have to shoot your girlfriend."

Lara was on the verge of throttling the girl when Kurtis lowered his Boran-X to the ground.

"Thanks for being such a gent" the gril said in an Australian Drawl. "Well, must be off, try not to get into any trouble…Gunderson is in a trigger happy mood love" she darted off to one side…Kurtis hurled the Chirugai at the girl.

She whirled around – the blades met with flashes of light and bounced back to their owners. The girl waved at Kurtis with the Chirugai of her own then vanished down a passage.

"What was that?" exclaimed Kurtis

"She had the same gadget as you" Lara shrugged. "Listen, we have to see if Rouvic had copies of the central book as quickly as we can or we'll be bloody well screwed"

"Um…we already are"

The suited men aimed their Desert Ranger pistols…and fired.

TBC: Next chapter: Lara starts to track down an obscure copy of the book as well as the person Gunderson is now working for. Kurtis is also investigating the shards…which are resonating energy he can sense…and they are sure as hell not in Prague or at least not according to the visions he's getting.

Has anyone actually met Rouzic in the game? I haven't...