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Memorial  

It is a dark and stormy evening in the English countryside. Lightning briefly illuminates the dark sky. Thick black clouds block the view of the sky as fierce rains pours down to earth, drenching trees, houses, and a familar form. The form of a woman wearing sunglasses, even in this driving rain, wielding two pistols.


But this familar, larger-than-life form is not our familiar heroine, but rather a statue of her that has been erected in the courtyward before her manor. Three people are standing in the rain to pay tribute to the memory of person depicted by the statue.


An older couple stand huddled underneath an umbrella, stand about a short stone's throw away from the statue, their grief or their guilt making them unable to close the remaining distance. The husband is a tall stately gent with a broad square frame. The wife, standing stiff-lipped in the man's arm, is slightly shorter and quite attractive even though she is getting along in age. Their posture is stiff, even in this time of sadness.


The third person is an even older man. He is even more hunched over than usual, but it is not the rain beating on his bald head that is slouching his shoulders forward. He shuffles forward slowly to place a wreath at the base of the statue.


The plaque at the base of the statue reads,



Lightning strikes and the shiny brass plaque reflects its blindingly white light. The old man turns and looks at the couple, who turn and look back. All are at a loss for words. With nothing left to say, the couple turns to go as a car pulls up to the gate of the manor.


The old man turns to the car and walks down the path to the car, leaving the statue of Lara Croft standing alone in the rain. Winston climbs into the car. Inside, a man of the cloth is seated in the back seat viewing the evening news on an LCD screen.


The news reporter reads the evening news, "In world news, a private memorial service was today held for renown archaeologist Lara Croft..." The car is now travelling down the tree-lined road, away from the manor.


Father Dunstan attempts to breach a conversation and turns to the old man, "Tis is a sad day Winston."


"She will live on forever in our hearts," Winston replies bitterly while staring out the window of the car.


Father Dunstan attempts to comfort him and adds, "Surely Winston, and for this is but a memorial service, there may yet be news from Von Croy in Egypt."


Winston is quick to reply. "Indeed, we can only hope and pray that she may yet return to us," he tells the father hopefully. As quickly as his hopes welled up, they bleed away as he continues, "And I fear that Von Croy, digging in the hopes of discovering her alive, may only be met with black reality."


Father Dunstan nodds in agreement, "Indeed, indeed." The news reporter is still reciting the news as Father Dunstan points a remote control at the LCD screen and clicks off the telly.

It's a cold, dark, rainy, day. With the memorial service for Lara Croft over, her old friends retire to the Croft Mansion.

As they sadly collect their thoughts, they reminisce about Lara's past adventures...

Meanwhile...

Hundreds of miles away, Werner Von Croy coordinates the frantic dig - searching for answers buried deep beneath the Egyptian desert...

The foot falls of three men can be heard echoing through the halls of the Croft Manor. Only a few lights in the manor have been lit, and the rest of the manor is immersed in darkness. The only eyes that witness the three men's arrival are the stuffed hunting trophies that are mounted above the second floor landing.

Winston, Lara's butler and oldest friend, leads the other two men into the study. Flashes of lightning briefly strobe the home in bright white light, as the Winston steps out of the foyer into a hallway that leads to the study. "To the study, gentlemen, where we may pontificate over the day's disheartening events," Winston tells the other two men. Winston swings open the door to the study and steps inside.

"Indeed, my friend," Jean-Yves concurs. "Even the heaven's cry out," he adds. Inside the study, he and Father Dunstan take seats that flank the fireplace. Winston steps through a side door to the kitchen to prepare some tea for his guests. Jean-Yves reaches forward and takes an unusual stone with a crystal protruding from one end from the table before him. He holds it up to allow it's yellow crystal to catch the light of the fire.

"Ah, the Philosopher's Stone2. One of Lara's early conquests," Winston announces, as he returns from the kitchen with a tray of tea and crumpets. "And one of her most challenging pursuits, if my memory serves me," He quickly adds. He places the tray on the table.

"And Rome still bears the scars of that little episode," Father Dunstan contributes.

"Ah, she was never one for diplomacy, Lara," Jean-Yves chuckles. "But she certainly knew how to paint the town red." Jean-Yves nods around the table to see Winston and Father Dunstan in agreement. Their conversation brings them back to the time Lara was in Rome, Italy. Their memories begin with an evening at the opera.

On stage, a large soprano in a deep red dress is singing Mozart's "Voi che Sapete", from "Le Nozze di Figaro3". Lara Croft watches contentedly through opera glasses from a balcony box. Lara is dressed in a stunning strapless evening dress. It's cut low in front and cut high up her dominant leg. However, she's wearing quite sensible flats rather than high-heels.

Lara's appreciation of the aria is interrupted when a blonde man dressed in a tuxedo steps noisily into the box through the curtains behind Lara. He proclaims with a southern drawl, "Well g'all darn! Ain't she just a picture?" He saunters up beside Lara and gives her shoulder a hard pat.

"Ah, the charming Mr. Larson," Lara coos, lowering her opera glasses and turning around. "Has Pierre let you off the leash?" She asks so sweetly and so sarcastically. Before Larson can formulate a come-back, Lara asks, "Talking of which, where is our learned friend?"

"Ah, He's around," Larson tells her with a buck-toothed smile. "You got the cash?" He snaps quickly?

"I've got the cash," Lara replies. "But I don't deal with the monkey," she insists.

Larson, who has taken the seat beside her, smiles, "Hu-hm, well that ain't polite for a lady. Even if the monkey has the Mercury Stone?" Larson asks smugly. Larson reaches into his inside suit pocket and produces a gray rock with a large yellowish crystal protruding from one side. The crystal glows and hums slightly as Larson holds it out for Lara to see.

Lara reaches down beside her right leg and produces a metal attach?case and holds it out for Larson to see. "Lucky I'm in a generous mood," Lara replies.

Just then, her words are interrupted by the click-clack of a gun, having its first round chambered. She turns to see a second man has joined the party and is pointing a gun at her face. "Ah crawled out from under your rock, I see," Lara tells the second man.

The second man is quite pale with a goatee and is also wearing a tuxedo, "No need for unpleasantries, Miss Croft," Pierre cuts in. He reaches forward and takes the metal case from Lara's hands and he and Larson both back out of the balcony box, he tells her, "I'm afraid I must, once again, relieve you of your burden." He tosses the metal case to Larson.

Lara smiles sweetly and shrugs, "Easy come - easy go." Lara lays one hand on the balcony's rail rapping her fingers on the wooden rail a couple of times, and extends her other gloved hand out to Pierre. Pierre looks at her extended hand, failing to notice that the other hand has closed to form a fist. Pierre smugly leans down to give her knuckles a tender kiss, when she brings her closed fist around, punching Pierre squarely in the bridge of his nose.

"Oh!" Pierre stumbles backwards, dropping his gun.

Larson acts quickly. He hands the case back to Pierre and both men continue backing up, now in a defensive stance. Lara herself is out of her seat and is also rapidly closing the distance between herself and Larson. It's not all sugar and sweetness anymore. Lara's got a scowl on her face that should make any man think twice. Larson, unfortunately didn't hand the Mercury Stone to Pierre as well, holds out the stone in front of him, trying to keep both hands ready to defend himself.

When Lara is within range, she takes a spinning back-roundhouse kick across Larson's head. He lets out an enormous, "Oof!" and the Mercury Stone shoots out of his hands, straight up into the air.

Lara turns around takes a forward handspring to flip up onto the balcony rail. She reaches up and catches the Mercury Stone, and tucks it into her garter. She turns and takes a leap off of the balcony rail, grabbing onto the stage curtain. All heads turn from the soprano to Lara dangling from the edge of the curtain. The opera patrons let out a collective, "Aaah!" at the sight. The curtain drops to the stage floor, bringing Lara down with it.

Lara spins around to face the now ecstatic crowd, which assumes this to be some stunt to liven up the performance. They rise and give her a standing ovation. One of the spotlights moves from the soprano to Lara, and she curtsies graciously for the crowd as they toss red roses onto the stage to her.

The moment of fanfare ends when Pierre fires five shots at Lara from the balcony box. The crowd screams, as Lara quickly flees. Exit, stage right. Pierre and Larson quickly exit the box and run down the stairs.

Larson curses, "It ain't over until the fat lady sings." Not realizing the irony in his own statement.

In an alley behind the opera house, a hapless motorcycle courier is banging on a door leading to the back stage making an attempt to deliver a package. As he lethargically knocks on the door he looks at two posters for Casablanca and Rebecca. Without warning, Lara bursts through the door, knocking the courier aside. Lara scans left and right, and spots the courier's motor scooter.

She runs forward, leap-frogs over the plastic crate strapped on the cargo rack, and lands in the saddle of the bike. She hits the electric starter button, and zips down the cobblestone alley.

The stunned courier has no idea what just happened, but turns to see the bright headlights of a car bearing down on him. He leaps aside to just barely avoid getting run down by the car.

It is apparent that Larson and Pierre have stolen a taxicab, and Larson is now behind the wheel. The speed down the narrow alley and close in on Lara and manage to tap the back of her motor scooter twice. Lara takes a quick look back and the accelerates the little scooter harder.

"Bucking bronco, baby!" Larson calls out, as he attempts to continue to cause Lara's scooter to buck like a wild horse.

Lara spots an intersecting alley, weaves a moment and takes a sharp high-speed turn into the next alley. Having overshot the intersection, Larson mashes down the brakes, and backs up the car and then puts it in forward again to make the turn into the alley and continue his pursuit.

Lara finds that this alley ends at a closed steel gate. There is plenty of space below the bottom of the steel gate, but not enough for a person riding upright on a motor-scooter. As she nears the gate, she turns and leans hard to one side, causing the scooter to be thrown sideways. She leaps off the scooter, which is sliding forward on its side, and tumbles forward on the granite curb of the alley. Both she and scooter pass beneath the steel gate. She rolls to her feet, her dress intact and not a hair out of place, while the scooter slides to a stop beside her.

Larson spots the gate and tells Pierre, "We ain't gonna make that gap, boss."

"We'll make it," Pierre insists.

"Ain't gonna," Larson counters.

"We'll make it!"

As the taxi-cab continues to race toward the gate, Lara stands up, turns and walks forward to the gate. She places her two hands on the bars of the gate, feeling the security they have provided for the decades it has stood in that alley. She smiles and takes a few steps back and stands there with her hands on her hips.

The top of the cabin of the taxicab crashes into the gate, blowing apart the windshield, while allowing the front end of the taxicab to pass underneath the gate. It rushes forward, but stops about a foot short of where Lara is standing, and is thrown back by the gate.

"What did I tell you?" a very battered and bruised Larson demands rhetorically.

"Mon Dieu!" Pierre curses, slamming his two fists down onto the dashboard. He isn't in much better condition than Larson.

Lara looks at the two thugs with a sort of wonder in her eyes. She smiles, takes a few steps backwards and blows them a kiss. She turns and walks off into the night. Leaving the two aching and dazed men sitting in the taxi.

Lara returns to her hotel and looks over the Mercury stone in her possession4. She decides on her strategy to look for the Philosopher's Stone the next day and goes to sleep. In the morning, she dons her traditional adventuring garb, straps on her hip holsters and checks her ammo, knowing full well that she will run into Pierre and Larson later this day. To avoid being conspicuous, Lara exits out the side door of her hotel into a side alley with a cobblestone pathway and hears the crickets chirping.

Lara cautiously approaches the building in the middle of the garden and looks up at the three gargoyle heads above the door. They look like the heads of dragons, staring ominously back down at her. Lara replaces the Mercury Stone in the receptacle with the symbol for mercury on it. Just then Lara hears a noise, and spins around with guns drawn. She looks up at the building facing the garden building. Not seeing anyone, Lara holsters her pistols one at a time and mutters, "Rodents, I shouldn't wonder. Big rodents." She turns and begins to walk away.

The source of the noise is Larson nearly falling off of the other side of the roof that Lara was just scanning. Pierre quickly grabs Larson's arm, preventing him from taking a header off the other side.

Larson gets to his feet draws his gun, and cocks the hammer. He takes aim on Lara, but Pierre raises his arm and knocks Larson's arm skyward just as he fires, saving Lara's life. "What?" Larson inquires furiously.

Pierre is furious, "Idiot! Idiot! What does the cowboy hope to achieve with this mindless firing?"

Larson is puzzled, "Ain't mindless. Or ain't we trying to kill her anymore then?"

"You were kicked in the head by a horse, oui? So the brain doesn't work correctly," Pierre asks sarcastically.

Larson asks ingenuously, "How'd you know about that?"

Pierre is flabbergasted, "Never mind! Never mind! We wait until she collects the other pieces. In this fashion we have the full prize at no extra effort."

Larson is duly impressed, "You are one clever cookie, boss."

Pierre is flattered by his companion's complements and smiles, "Comparatively, yes. Come, let's get off this roof and I will buy you a milkshake."

Lara makes her way down from the temple mount and returns to the garden. As she rounds the corner to the front of the garden building, she finds Pierre loitering there. Lara immediately draws her pistols and aims them at him.

Pierre doesn't seem impressed, "Come, come, Lara. We are all friends here." He clicks his tongue and motions with one of his guns.

Larson appears from behind the building, sneaking up on Lara and trains his revolver on Lara's head, "Begging your pardon, ma'am, but if you'd like to put them peashooters away. Lara holsters her pistols and Larson shoves her forward

Pierre now feels confident enough to make some demands of Lara, "Now, the second stone if you please, Miss Croft."

"Come get it," Lara dares.

"Hmmm," Pierre wonders aloud. He's wiser after having attempted to get close to Lara the night before. "It's a little late in the evening for these games." He turns to Larson and issues a command, "Larson, search her if you please."

Larson, having a short memory is clearly pleased, "Well, gosh darn if I don't get all the best jobs." He walks forward, facing her and puts his hand on her midriff, copping a gratuitous feel. He then kneels down and runs his hands up her bare legs.

Lara quickly tires of getting groped by this gorilla, so she suggests, "You want to try the back pockets?" As Larson leans in to put his hands on her behind, she knees him in the groin.

Pierre is fed up, "Larson! Enough! My patience is exhausted with this childish nonsense. The stone, Miss Croft." Pierre trains his gun on Lara.

Lara produces the Saturn Symbol from her pack and holds it out to Pierre. She offers him a warning, "If you put this into that gate, Pierre, you're going to get a lot more than you bargained for, trust me." Larson is standing by, still doubled over, with both hands between his thighs. Pierre now hesitates.

Larson steps forward. Feeling his manliness in jeopardy, he walks past Lara, and snatches the symbol out of her hands, while announcing, "I'll put it in then."

Lara offers an additional warning to Larson, "That would be one of the stupidest moves you've made, and that's saying something I think you'll appreciate."

Pierre continues to hesitate, this time verbally, "Uh..."

Larson slips the Saturn Stone in its receptacle. Looking around and realizing that nothing has happened, he turns to Pierre and shrugs.

Pierre regains his confidence and gloats, "A nice try as always, Miss Croft."

"Wait for it," Lara replies. A moment later, a bolt of electricity shoots from the building and zaps Larson. "Don't say I didn't warn you," Lara reminds them.

Pierre quickly runs to Larson's aid, and the two of them frantically pat down Larson's jeans, which are on fire. "What is it? What have we done?" A panicked Pierre asks?

"In your usual flamboyant style," Lara explains. "You have set in motion the next gate phase."

"Next gate phase?" Pierre puzzles.

"If my memory serves me," Lara thinks, looking up. "The gate has realigned itself and if it does not receive two stones in the next few moments... poof!" Lara gestures a big explosion with both her hands. Lara attempts to imitate Larson's low-brow vocabulary to make sure she drove her point home, "If I was you, I'd grab your Cro-Magnon cowboy over there and run as fast as your little legs can carry you. Au revoir, mon cher." Lara turns and walks away, leaving the two panicked men to wonder what their next move ought to be.

Lara quickly heads down the street to a nearby neighborhood11. From her research, she has deduced that this is most likely the neighborhood where the last two stones lay. Lara follows the twists and turns of the street until she abruptly runs into a dead end. She turns around to survey the buildings around her.

Lara steps through the opening back into the garden. She draws her guns and calls out, "Come out, come out wherever you are?"

Larson pops out from behind the building with his gun draw, "Heck, this ambushin' ain't what it used to be."

Lara trains her guns on him and replies, "Not when you're involved, no."

"Practice makes perfect, I'm reckonin'."

"Whatever," Lara tells him carelessly. "We seem to be missing someone," Lara notices. She side steps out of the opening into the middle of the garden.

"If you's talking 'bout Frenchy, he's kind of... indisposed," Larson announces smugly.

"And you thought you might just help yourself to his share of what's behind that gate?" Lara asks. "Unless of course this is just a social visit."

Larson tells her sweetly, "Well, you know I's always pleased to see a little belle like you, Lara. Be more pleased to see that last stone, though, if you'll be wantin' to hand it over." Lara fires and Larson dives behind the building and complains, "That ain't supposed to happen."

Quickly draw weapons and open fire on Larson. Jump back and forth to try to dodge Larson's shots. After Larson falls, Lara will holster her guns.

Lara begins to approach Larson with her guns trained on him. A noise, like stone grinding on stone, catches her attention and she looks up. The stone serpents begin to move and look around.

Lara begins to back away and calls out to Larson, "Larson! Behind you!" Her voice is clearly alarmed.

Larson, holding his wound, doesn't notice the serpents eyeing him from behind and tells Lara, "I may be a dumb ass but I ain't fallin' for that again."

"No, really," Lara points with her guns, "behind you."

Larson raises the pitch of his voice to ape Lara, "Behind you! Behind you!" The three serpents emerge from the building and squirm around Larson. One of the serpents clamps its jaws around Larson's midriff. Lara continues to back away while Larson is screaming frantically. Finally the serpent flings Larson across the garden. He lands hard on his back and lets out a, "Whoa."

Lara will slide down the ramp and drop to a slope below. She takes an ungraceful tumble down the slope but manages to grab the edge of the slope before falling over the edge into the deep pit below. As Lara dangles precariously by her fingertips, a smug Pierre ambles up to the edge of the pit.

"Hmm... an unfortunate situation, no?" Pierre asks cheerfully.

"I've had worse," Lara answers slowly.

"Indeed. Indeed," Pierre nods. "This is a very deep pit and in this, such an historic venue, I feel sure there may be valuable artifacts lurking in its depths."

"I can't tempt you to jump down and take a look?" Lara asks sarcastically.

"Well, this is my point: I feel you may be better qualified to examine its secrets," Pierre declares lazily. "Unless you - perish the thought - expired in the fall. Perhaps if you lighten your load a little it may lessen the impact," Pierre suggests. "The stone you carry?"

"Wondered when you'd get to that," Lara adds. "Pull me up and the stone is yours."

"And we all live happily ever after?" Pierre asks warily. "I think not." Pierre looks down at Lara's big hazel eyes and has a change of heart. He allows his hormones to win over his better judgment and tells her, "Give me your word that once you leave the pit you will not lay a finger on me."

"You have my word," Lara promises. Pierre stoops down to offer his hand, but with a strong grip on his Magnums and his aim still trained on Lara's head. In order to obtain better leverage, he sits down on the ledge and pulls her up over the edge of the pit. Lara crawls up past him.

Pierre stands and turns around. He decides to collect on his favor, "The stone?" Lara walks slowly up to him, getting closer and closer. He attempts to remind Lara of their bargain, "Now, now, Miss Croft, you gave me your word. Come now Lara. Lara, you promised."

Lara puckers her lips as her face draws near his face. "Boo!"

Pierre is startled by her and slips backwards, falling off the edge of the ledge. He manages to grab onto the ledge. Finding that their situations have been reversed, he asks, "Could you find it in your heart to help me up? I appear to be slipping."

Lara looks down at him and says sweetly, "Pierre, you know nothing would please me more, but we have an agreement."

"Agreement?" Pierre puzzles.

"Not to lay a finger on you. Remember, silly?" Lara shrugs, "Anyway, busy girl, got to go." Lara turns to walk away.

Pierre begins to loose is grip and is about to start begging, "But I..."

Lara can hear Pierre let out a scream, and land with a thump and a moan. "Don't let me hold you up," Lara tells him.

Lara wields the glowing and humming stone in front of her admiringly. It's light grows so brightly Lara has to put on her sunglasses.

Back to the present in the Croft Manor, Lara's three friends are gathered around the table. "And so ended the first of many," Winston punctuates. "I'm sure Miss Croft would be the first to apologize for her not entirely courteous behavior regarding some of the more delicate religious artifacts." Winston turns to Father Dunstan, "Father Patrick?"

"No, need my friend," Father Dunstan raises hand and smiles. He waves off Winston's surrogate apology and shakes his head. "All in a good cause. At least we knew they were in secure hands. And fortunately, the church was above sending a bullet-proof envoy to retrieve them." He turns and casts a glance at Jean-Yves.

"Ah, but she recognized her place in the great scheme," Jean-Yves explains. "Some things, as history has illustrated, are best left to their slumber." Father Dunstan and Winston exchange puzzled looks. Winston leans forward interestedly. Jean-Yves chuckles, "I speak in riddles. I talk of the stricken wolf ship." Jean-Yves gestures to a picture of a German U-boat on the wall above and to the right of the hearth.

"Ah, yes," Winston nods, suddenly catching on. "The U-boat episode. Miss Croft would never enlighten me as to the details. For my own protection, she would often stress."

"Indeed, Winston," Jean-Yves agrees. "And for this you should be grateful." Their collective memories enter the dark cramped hallways of a German submarine. German seamen pass each other in the tight quarters. "Deep in the bowels of their vessels lay one of the most powerful artifacts in all Christendom. An artifact which, when wielded at the vanguard of an army, would make that army invincible." Behind bulkhead doors in a storage room, lies a few crates. One small unseeming crate glows and bumps up and down.

"The Spear of Destiny," Father Dunstan whispers reverently.

"But the boat never reached the fatherland with its precious cargo," Jean-Yves explains. "It disappeared from radar three weeks into the journey," his voice grows deep and menacing.

The U-boat is aground on a undersea trench on the sea floor, near the edge of a deep trench. Its captain and four seamen have boarded themselves in the torpedo room. The captain stands in front of racks of torpedoes, while one of the sailors vainly attempts to contact help. The broken radio yields only static, squeals and pops.

A bright unnatural light leaks beneath the bulkhead door. Soon the whole door glows and panic washes over one of the sailors. The light shoots through the small round window and blows rivets off of the bulkhead door. The sailors draw their weapons and take aim. When panic wins, they open fire. "Mein Gott!" They shout. As they fire, their bullets ricochets around the room, hitting some of the men and pinging off of the torpedoes. The captain repeatedly yells, "Nein!" Attempting to stop his men, but its too late.

It's unclear whether it was the unknown force or the stray bullets that take down the sailors, but the torpedoes explode, blowing the conning tower off of the U-boat. "So," Jean-Yves continues. "This is the resting place of the fifty-two seamen, and also something much more sinister."

Lara and Jean-Yves stand on a high hillside overlooking a Russian naval base. Light snow drifts down through the night sky. The scene is almost tranquil. Between two tall evergreens, Jean-Yves briefs Lara on the situation. Jean-Yves is standing in front of the snowmobile they arrived on. Lara, dressed in arctic camouflage, stands closer to the edge of the clearing, peering down at the naval base using sophisticated night-vision binoculars.

"The Zapadnaya Litsa port," Jean-Yves tells her. "Once the pride of the Russian fleet." Lara surveys the base and spots two black sedans pulling into the base. She zooms in on one of the cars and gets a glimpse of one of the men inside the leading car. "Ex-KGB, the majority of them," Jean-Yves continues, "Trained killers." Lara zooms her binoculars back out to see the two sedans enter the naval base. The gate is guarded by two men.

"Dealt with Mafioso before. Unpleasant memories. Prefer to avoid them whenever possible," Lara turns to Jean-Yves.

"Yes, I would prefer this also," he agrees.

Lara peers down at the harbor and spies a couple of salvage vessels pulling out of the dockyard. "Hardly a major search party, is it?" She asks. "There's something you're not telling me." Her big brown eyes pierce Jean-Yves.

"Ah, yes," Jean-Yves concedes.

"I'm a big girl now," Lara tilts her head toward him. "Hit me with the bad news."

"It is bad news," Jean-Yves yields. "The admiral's allegiance has been bought and under his command a nuclear submarine. It's housed in one of the dockyards."

"Well done," Lara congratulates him on his frankness. "Nuclear submarine? Sounds nice. Perfect holiday." Lara turns and begins toward the edge of the slope.

"Lara, wait!" Jean-Yves extends his hands and offers a small item. "Take this tracking device."

"What's this? You're not worried about me?" Lara asks defiantly.

"Yes. Someone has to." He presses.

Lara takes the device and smiles, "Touching, but don't wait up." Lara turns and runs down the slope. Jean-Yves mounts the snowmobile and starts it. He takes a sharp turn and heads off into the woods as Lara makes her way down to the naval base.

Lara hears the voices of two men below, so she immediately crouches down and listens in on their conversation.

The tall burly man tells the well-decorated man in uniform, "Move your men along, Yarofev. I do not pay such exorbitant prices for incompetence."

"You forget, Mikhailov," The officer reminds sternly. "I am still an admiral of Russian navy and as such demand respect." Lara presumes that this must be Admiral Yarofev, that Jean-Yves briefed her on earlier.

"While you accept my bribes for use of the submarine, you are under my employ and will follow my instructions without complaint," Mikhailov replies

"If I deal with the like of you to keep my men in bread, it does not make me one of you," Admiral Yarofev hisses.

Mikhailov laughs loudly and slaps the admiral on the back, "Relax, my friend. We are two sides of the same coin." He turns and walks away and boards the submarine.

"Mafioso filth," Yarofev spits at Mikhailov under his breath. He turns and calls to his men, "Brushev, hurry on with that box. Our new commander demands efficiency." A couple of men shove a crate, which slides down a ramp into the submarine. "Enough! Enough!" The admiral calls, "Board and seal hatches."

Yarofev climbs onto the conning tower of the submarine, where Mikhailov is waiting for him. Mikhailov announces "As you have promoted me to commander, is it not fitting to board before the admiral?" Mikhailov climbs into the open hatch, leaving Yarofev to watch him.

Lara takes in the scene and waits until all the men have disappeared into the submarine before standing up.

Lara lands on the submarine quite hard, rolls forward and ducks behind a ridge near the top of the submarine. A Russian marine hears Lara hit the submarine and steps out of the submarine to investigate.

He walks past Lara's hiding place toward the tower. Lara quickly scrambles to her feet and runs forward to hide behind a crate. She peeks around the crate and then smacks her fist against the crate to get the marine's attention.

The marine turns around to investigate. Expecting someone to be hiding behind the crate, the marine leaps around the corner of the crate to find no one there. Lara, meanwhile, has made her way around the crate the other way and has sneaked up on the marine from behind.

She attempts to clobber him from behind, but he deflects her falling fist. He grabs her arm and twists her around. Lara elbows him in the gut, causing him to double over, turns and gives him a swift upper-cut to the jaw, laying him out.

She quickly turns and enters the submarine just in time, as the loading bay doors are closed behind her. She looks around and huffs, "Humph, economy class."

Inside the submarine's cold storage bay, Lara sits down and pulls her knees close to her and leans her head on her knees. Her rest is interrupted by footsteps approaching. Lara looks up when she hears the sounds approach. A bulkhead door opens soldiers and Admiral Yarofev along with two Russian steps through.

"An unwelcome addition to our little assignment," Admiral Yarofev declares. The two soldiers step forward and point their guns at Lara. She raises her hands over her head. "Leonid," He commands one of the soldiers. "If you will escort this lady into the brig." One of the soldiers waves his gun to indicate that Lara should walk ahead of him.

"Your little assignment?" Lara asks inquisitively. She gets to her feet and steps toward the men. "You have no idea what your Mafia financed assignment is." Lara challenges, "Do you Admiral?"

"Young lady, who you are and what you know is of very little concern to me," He replies. "If I was captain of my ship, I might listen to you, but unfortunately the situation I find myself in doesn't allow me that privilege so if you will be quiet and hurry along like a good little girl," the Admiral spits. Admiral Yarofev gestures down the hallway outside. Lara steps past them and walks down the hallway ahead of the three men.

They round a corner where there are crews quarters. One of the soldiers opens the door and Admiral Yarofev turns to Lara, "Inside please."

Lara warns him, "You're making a grave mistake. You know that?" The soldiers slam the door to the crew's quarters shut.

The Admiral turns to the two soldiers and orders, "Under no circumstances open this door. You understand?" The two soldiers salute. The Admiral turns and walks away.

Lara will spot a ventilation grate on the right that overlooks the submarine's control room. She looks down into the control room to see Mikhailov and Admiral Yarofev talking to each other.

Mikhailov is peering into one of the submarine's two periscope, and asks Yarofev, "Then it is true? We are before the stricken U-boat? Now we find if its cargo is still intact." He turns to Yarofev, "Prepare your divers."

"And are we to be told what we search for?" Yarofev asks back, clearly annoyed.

"Enough to locate it, da," Mikhailov replies. "But beyond that I fear it may be too much for your limited intellect to grasp."

"Perhaps too much for mine, trusted comrade, but perhaps not for the spy we have located on board," Yarofev shoots back, clearly looking to get a rise out of Mikhailov.

"A spy?" Mikhailov asks "I trust you disposed of him."

"Not him. Her." Yarofev corrects. "Yes, we are forced to run with wolves but we do not kill indiscriminately like they."

"Fool!" Mikhailov regains his composure, "I shall dispose of her when I return. Move the sub into position, quickly, comrade."

Yarofev now peers into the submarine's second periscope and gives commands to the sailor at the helm, "Take her five degrees astern, quarter power. Then bring her to a full stop." He turns and clicks on a microphone mounted on the periscope and announces, "Attention all dive crews. Report to your stations immediately."

Once the Extreme Depth Suit, or EDS, is fully operational, Lara chimes, "Time to turn the tables." She walks over to the suit's pants and examines it. She turns around and grabs onto the two parallel bars above the pants and pulls herself up over the pants. She lowers herself into the suit's pants and pours her legs into the suit.

When she is snugly set into the suit's pants, the chains that hold the upper half of the suit automatically rises and swings over to the pants. The two supports that Lara used to pull up on automatically lower and the upper half of the suit lowers itself down over Lara.

Once Lara is inside the EDS, she finds movement to be quite difficult. She moves very carefully and deliberately and steps down off of the platform and walks over to a hatch. The hatch automatically opens as Lara approaches.

With some difficulty, Lara steps up onto the platform in from of the hatch and steps through it onto a lift. The lift lowers and the hatch closes and finally lowers Lara into the ocean depths outside.

Lara pilots the EDS into the chamber and hovers over the crate for a moment.
She dives down and opens the crate and produces the artifact. The wooden shaft of
the spear has long since eroded in this underwater resting place, but the spearhead
is still fully intact. She declares, "Ah who could believe it." She tucks the spear away.
Of course her good fortune is short lived, as removing the spearhead seems to have
triggered an undersea earthquake which rocks the U-boat. Wreckage falls from the
ceiling and hits the EDS. "Puncture!" Lara exclaims, "Time to leave."

When Lara returns the Russian submarine, she rides the lift back into the dive chamber. She steps forward and the hatch closes. She stands in the storage case for her Extreme Depth Suit, or EDS. The chain attaches to the upper half and pulls it off of her.

Lara turns left, walks forward and grabs the support arm above her head and pulls herself out of the pants of the EDS. She turns around and returns to the upper half of the EDS, as the legs collapse to the ground.

She pulls the remains of the Spear of Destiny from the small storage place on the EDS just as Mikhailov arrives with two of his thugs. They turn their guns on her.

"Ah, our on and off visitor," Mikhailov announces. "I fear you have an item in your possession that I require."

"To be used in your continuing quest for world peace, I presume," Lara spits sarcastically.

"World peace," Mikhailov repeats. "Not entirely my purpose in pursuing this artifact."

"This artifact contains untold power," Lara interrupts him, deadly serious. "Power of which the likes of you will never harness." She clutches the spear close to her. "If you wish it, you may have it, but you will regret it," Lara tells him ominously, emphasizing the 'will'.

"The world may regret it," Mikhailov corrects. "Hand it to me and I may spare you."

"On your head be it," Lara tells him as she whips the spearhead towards him.

Mikhailov catches it and tells the two goons, "Take her to the torpedo room, and eject her into the ocean." Mikhailov so satisfied with himself, he lets out a "Ha".

The two thugs lead Lara away. As she passes Mikhailov, she turns and exclaims, "Sergei! Listen to me." Lara waits for Mikhailov to turn and face her. "You don't know what you're dealing with."

He waves her off, and the two thugs lead her out of the dive room. As soon as Lara, who is being escorted by the two thugs, are outside, they hear the sound of electricity. Back in the dive chamber, purple and pink sparks shoot out of Mikhailov and lift him into the air.

Suddenly there is an explosion and the inside of the submarine is plunged into darkness. In the darkness Lara makes her move. In the blackness, the sound of a fist and a foot connecting with their intended targets are heard. The first sound is followed by a surprised "Ah" and the second by a "oof" of pain. All are punctuated by the splash of a unconscious body falling into knee deep water.

A moment passes and emergency power is restored to the submarine. Lara surveys the damage and finds water pouring in from everywhere and the hallways already flooded to her ankles.

Mikhailov is nowhere to be found. Lara knows the submarine is sinking and she must quickly find a way to the surface.

Lara steps into the room and peeks around to the corner to find Yarofev sitting on the floor of the room. The water flooding the room is up to his chest. Lara runs to him and kneels down beside him.

Yarofev turns to her and speaks weakly, "I knew that old Sergei would be the end of us all. He infects my ship with his greed and now we are all doomed."

Lara, not ready to give up protests. "We have a chance. The escape pod. Come on! I'll help you," she urges him.

Yarofev confesses his sins, "I do this only to help my men. He babbles of the Biblical spear and I feed his madness for money to feed our families. And now... to these... corpses left for the fishes."

"Yarofev," Lara presses, "I can help you but you must help me. The ship is about to impact into the ocean bed and then our time is up. We must hurry."

Yarofev coughs and explains, "The escape pods have no internal air supply. You will find oxygen tanks in my stateroom. I hear my ship dying. The internal seals are splintering."

With the escape pod in working order, Lara climbs back down the ladder to help Admiral Yarofev up into the pod. As she reaches down to pull Yarofev up, he waves his hand, slapping Lara's hands away, "Nyet! No time," He insists. "The hull is breached and we will drown soon. With the oxygen you escape. Now!"

"Not without you," Lara replies stubbornly.

"I am Admiral Yarofev of the Russian Imperial Navy. I have served my great country for many years. But the country I know withers. The bear lies down to sleep for its final time," Yarofev laments. "And I wish also this fate on the ship I have grown to love.

"No deal," Lara tells him sternly.

"Yes, deal!" Yarofev snaps back. "For the outer airlock can only be opened from inside the ship. This is my gift to you, child. I release you to a future beyond this dying vessel."

Lara squats down beside the Admiral and asks, "And my gift to you?"

Yarofev suggests "Tell my story. Tell how the proud men of the Russian navy fought against the enemy from inside and sacrificed their lives so their dear country might once again stand proud."

"You have my word," Lara promises.

"I salute you. Quickly! Into the airlock and I will release you," Yarofev insists.

Lara obeys and climbs up the ladder. Part way up the ladder, she turns and tells him, "Good-bye, Admiral." After climbing into the escape pod, the airlock door snaps shut behind her and she looks up through the glass of the pod at the ocean above.

The crippled Russian submarine continues to sink slowly, as Admiral Yarofev crawls over to the control panel. His breath is quite ragged and labored. He releases the escape pod and it shoots upward.

Meanwhile an eerie finger of light oozes into the escape pod's control room. Yarofev can do nothing but watch it approach. Lara, is unaware of any of this as the escape pod continues to shoot toward the surface.

With no options, the Admiral can only sit in terror as the white light draws near to him. The horror lasts but a moment when the light engulfs the Admiral, the room, and then the entire submarine.

The whole submarine explodes in a bright undersea explosion, and the escape pod reaches the surface.

On a small salvage vessel on the surface, Jean-Yves is perched in front of a monitor of an undersea sonar. Suddenly he spots a bright blip on the monitor, and he quickly turns, grabs a rifle and heads above deck.

Jean-Yves takes aim on the escape pod after it pops above the surface. He chambers a round, but looking through the rifle's scope, he sees the occupant of the escape pod is Lara, and he lowers the weapon.

Back in the present, Jean-Yves concludes his tale back in the study of the Croft manor, "Lara saw enough of the power of this artifact to recognize its rightful place was where man could never again misuse it."

Father Dunstan, adds "And not enough for it to destroy her. Some powers are beyond the wit of man."

A flash of lightening very near to the estate disrupts power to the mansion, and the three men find themselves sitting by the glow of only the fire in the hearth.

"Oh dear, gentlemen. I do apologize," Winston remarks at the melodramatic timing of the power outage. "It seems someone up above has a sense of humor. If you will excuse me a moment I shall fetch candles." He rises slowly and shuffles out of the room.

"It's a night spurred by hell," Jean-Yves remarks, while staring out the window at the stormy night.

"And as the horsemen drover ever onward across the world, the heavens boiled in their wake. Ah, benefits of a religious education," Father Dunstan adds with a little smile and a blink.

By the light of the fire, Father Dunstan comments on the pouring rain outside, "This night reminds me of the time out at Connussie."

"Winston's Home?" Jean-Yves asks.

"Indeed! Yes," Father Dunstan replies. The two men are gathered by the window. Now both are watching the rain. "The staff had taken leave due to flooding. Lara, back when she was a slip of a girl, was staying with Winston and his wife. It was her that contacted me, as a matter of fact. Some trouble out at one of the islands. Weird lights. Manifestations. That sort of thing." As the two men gaze outside, they can see a bolt of lightning strike a tree at the edge of the grounds. The scene brings their minds to Winston's humble home in a little town in Ireland.

"Thought I might be able to help," Father Dunstan continues. "It was on a hellish night like this when I arrived." The night that Father Dunstan describes, so many years ago, indeed was like this night.

In a bedroom of a small cottage, the windows are slightly ajar. Outside it is pouring rain. A young Lara Croft, is found sitting on her bed in Winston's house, dressed in a pair of green shorts and a T shirt. She lays her night gown on the bed and crosses her arms to pull off her shirt and change for bed. As she pulls her shirt above her midriff, she hears a pounding at the front the door. She allows her shirt to fall back down as her curiosity grows. She wonders who can be traipsing around in this weather.

The front door of the cottage creaks open and a back-lit figure with a wide brimmed hat standing is standing in the doorway. The figure, dressed in a long black coat, steps into the humble cottage. The figure speaks, "Evenin' Winston, and how would I be able to help?" The figure steps into the front room of the small house and pulls off his hat to reveal it is none other than a much younger Father Patrick Dunstan.

The two men sit down at a table in the front room. "So people have seen these apparitions out a the island?" Father Dunstan begins.

"There's talk of little else in the village, Bram. I'm doing all I can to keep this gossip from Lara," a younger Winston confirms. In her bedroom, Lara sneaks up to her bedroom door and opens it slightly to eavesdrop on the men's conversation.

"Aye, yet would be a wise man," Father Dunstan complements Winston. "It would be unwise for her curiosity to draw her to that place."

"And you have some idea of what it could be?" Winston asks.

"To be frank with you, no," Father Dunstan admits. Lara peeks her face out of her room and watches the men. "But as the devil finds work for idle hands, I've spoken with Father Finnegan, and I have a boat chartered for the crossing late on this very evening."

"Good Lord, Bram! You have not chosen the evening for it?" Winston asks. The worry in his voice is quite apparent.

"I have my faith to protect me, Winston," Father Dunstan states firmly. Lara moves back a little into her room.

"Be careful, I fear that on that island it is what you cannot see that will hurt you, Bram"

"Time to get to the bottom of this, old friend." Father Dunstan rises. Lara runs lightly across her room and vaults sprightly out the open window on one hand and drops to the ground outside.

The evening has begun to clear, and the moon is visible through the clouds. There is still a bit of fog hanging over the, now calm, waters. At the docks, Father Dunstan is at the bow of a small boat. The man at the helm applies the throttle and pilots it away from the dock and turns to wave to Winston. Winston, standing on the dock, waves back, and the small boat heads out to sea. In the distance, lighting is still streaking from the sky.

As the boat makes the crossing, the waters of the open sea are choppier than near the shore. Lara, who has snuck aboard is hiding inside a hold on the small boat, pops her head up out of the hold to get a glimpse of what's happening outside.

The boat approaches a rocky island and lightning strikes the island. Father Dunstan, still standing at the bow of the boat, surveys the island. They reach a small wooden dock, where Father Dunstan disembarks.

The boat leaves and Father Dunstan waves to the pilot of the boat. He walks a short distance to a sheer rock face. He operates some kind of secret switch, and a section of the rock swings open, revealing a torch-lit tunnel.

Lara, crouching by the dock watches Father Dunstan step into the tunnel with great interest.

Lara steps forward cautiously. She is startled by the ring of a church bell from the tower behind her. She turns and looks up at the tower, and then turns back and continues to move forward.

Suddenly in a flash of light with the crackling of electricity, a decomposing corpse suddenly appears, dangling by a noose from the gnarled tree ahead. The corpse is swinging slowly in the wind and missing one hand.

It begins to speak, "Come child. Come closer for I have gifts for thee."

"I'll stay where I am," Lara answers bravely.

The corpse lets out a sinister laugh. The rope creaks as the corpse continues to swing in the wind as it attempts to reassure Lara, "Fear not this visage. It is but a vessel for my troubled spirit." It takes a creepy labored breath and continues. "Hsst.. Come closer for you are safe while I am hung like so much butchered meat."

"Who are you?" Lara asks nervously.

"Who?" The corpse asks back wondering how to answer, but continues along a different tack, "Hmm... For it is more like what. Condemned to wander between the kingdoms of man and that of the elementals. Hmm... But I must be swift in my request. Hsst... For they watch and wait to once more draw me back into the darkness." The corpse gestures in a sort of general way with its one hand.

"Request?" Lara asks.

"My heart, girl," the corpse answers impatiently. "They have hidden my petrified heart in this, the World Tree." The corpse gestures again, this time to what appears to be a grove of trees off to Lara's left. "Down under the watchful gaze of the dragon, Neadhog. Hmm... Find this, my child, and return it to its rightful resting place." The corpse gestures once more at the gaping hole in its chest. "Hsst... And you shall be rewarded!"

"And why on earth should I trust you?" Lara asks skeptically, with the emphasis on "you".

"Not on earth, girl," the corpse answers. "In between." It chuckles and coughs. "My soul is gone and how it fares nobody knows and nobody cares." It chuckles once more, and with a electrical zap and a flash the corpse is gone, leaving just the gnarled tree in the clearing with a small campfire.

When Lara picks up the heart, a stone door will slide open. Lara turns and steps toward the opening and slides down the slope beside the opening. She pokes her head around the corner and peers down into the chamber below.

She hears the voice of Father Dunstan over a unnatural hissing and groaning, "Go back to your slumberings. This is but a child, and she shall not cross your path as you shall not cross hers" Lara finds Father Dunstan leaning over a deep pit performing some sort of rite.

"Come closer for often it is easier to be brave from a distance," the unnatural voice calls out.

"I am here now," Father Dunstan calls down into the pit. "And I have a gift for you, you cantankerous worm." He tosses something into the pit.

The voice seethes with anger and calls out, "Arrgh! Curse you priest! If you live till doomsday you shall burn a week longer than the world! I swear!"

Father Dunstan turns casually to Lara and shrugs casually, "Iron. Never found a demon yet that doesn't burn at its touch."

"What was in the hole?" Lara asks timidly.

"In the... Nevermind that," Father Dunstan quickly changing the subject. "What on earth are you doing here? No, don't bother," He quickly decides that he doesn't want to know. "We'll get on to that later. Right now we need to get you out to somewhere safe until the morning. That's assuming you'll stay in once place, young lady."

"Nothing with demons, right?" Lara asks sweetly.

"Well, I can't promise anything in this God-forsaken place. I'll light the way and go on ahead to clear out any unwelcome guests. Now once you're out, head to the chapel over the bridge. I'll meet you there." Father Dunstan turns and begins to go. Suddenly he stops and turns to Lara, "I'm forgetting me manners. Don't speak to strange things and if there's anything around, and trust in me skills in this area there shouldn't be. Iron, girl. Use iron to repel 'em. See you on top. Keep your wits about you." Father Dunstan finishes dispensing his advice and moves up the tunnel.

Lara examines the open coffin and cautiously steps through. She slips and falls ungracefully down a steep ramp and lands on her face. She lets out a grunt of pain and starts to get on her feet.

As she works her way onto her knees, she turns to find white-haired figure in black robes holding a torch. She stumbles backwards away from the figure, which suddenly turns around. Lara finds that the figure is Father Patrick, and his hair has gone completely white.

Father Patrick is somewhat surprised by Lara's jumpy behavior, and tells her, "Good Lord, girl. It's me." He helps Lara to her feet. "I've enough on me plate without you making me jump outta me skin, Lara."

Lara looks up and points to the top of his head, "Your hair..."

"What about me hair?" Father Patrick asks.

"It's... white!" Lara replies.

"Hmm..." Father Patrick mumbles as he plucks a strand off his head to examine it. "Aye. That'd be right," He agrees. "I was detained by some unpleasant fellows from down below. Gave me quite a fright," He chuckles pleasantly. "That's why I wasn't at the chapel, but I can see you've kept yourself busy. Anyways, let's get you outta here, and back to safety."

Father Patrick gestures and Lara walks on ahead of him as they exit the labyrinth together.

Lara and Father Patrick step out of a tunnel and out onto a hillside. It is still raining out here. Father Patrick immediately begins to give Lara instructions, "Right, young lady, I'm going to have a quick look around now for a safe place to put you. Now you stay put, or you'll be banging into something that'll make your hair turn white. And we wouldn't be wanting that now, would we?"

Lara remembers the book she picked up, "Father, I found a book in the labyrinth."

Father Patrick is flabbergasted, "You've been sight-seeing in there as well? Good Lord almighty, girl! I'll be needin' to chain ya to something."

Lara tries to give the book to Father Patrick. "It has protective symbols," she points out. "Maybe you can use them."

"Bless you for the thought, but I've enough protection from Him above," Father Patrick refuses graciously. Father Patrick points to the book, "And for that diagram to be any good you'd have to draw it out and be sittin' in the middle of it." An owl hoots in the distance, and Father Patrick continues, "And you know something, I've left all me coloring pens at home tonight. Now, you'll be doing me a big favor if you were to stay put before you bang into something bigger than you. "

Lara nods enthusiastically in agreement, "Stay put. Right!" However, as much as she would like to obey, it's just not in her nature not to explore.

Run forward down the path past the dark dirt patch. A demon horseman appears on the hillside ahead. It rides down toward Lara with his sword drawn. Lara recognizes that she's out gunned, so she beats a hasty retreat back down the path. As the horseman rides past he takes a swing at Lara. She ducks down and avoids the horseman's swing, but stumbles forward and flops face down on the path.

The horseman dismounts the dark steed and steps toward Lara. It grabs her by the neck and lifts her up by her neck. Lara struggles, but the horseman is holding her so high that her toes are a foot or more off the ground. The horseman sizes Lara up and decides that she's not a threat, so he tosses her back toward the opening to the labyrinth. He mounts his steed and rides away.

Lara drops to her knees and begins to draw a protective symbol. The demon horseman reemerges at the top of the hill ahead. Lara hurries and completes the symbol.

The horseman charges at Lara but the protective symbol stops him cold. The steed however is allowed to pass through the symbol, so as a result the demon horseman is knocked off of the dark steed.

The symbol however doesn't prevent the demon horseman from taking a swing at Lara with his sword. He raises his sword with both hands, but just before he deals Lara a deathblow, Father Patrick appears from the tunnel, grabbing Lara, and pulling her out of reach of the demon horseman's swing.

Lara quickly scampers away, as the horseman grabs Father Patrick by the neck. The horseman lifts Father Patrick up by the neck and hits him in the side of the head with the hilt of his sword. The dark steed returns and the horseman heaves Father Patrick onto the steed.

Lara turns and watches helplessly as the horseman mounts the steed and rides away.

When Lara steps out of the tunnel, the demon horseman will burst through the doors of a barn ahead. Father Patrick is still folded over the back of the horse. The horseman dismounts and pulls up Father Patrick's head by his hair.

The horseman raises his sword to Father Patrick's neck and begins to rant, "Who is this that stands before me? The first to visit me in my prison seven hundred years past."

"Seven hundred years?" Father Patrick asks in surprise. "All alone in a barn? Huh, those winter nights must have just flown by."

"Silence, ignorant heretic, or I behead you!" The horseman replies angrily. He reaches up and heaves Father Patrick down off the horse. Father Patrick slams down onto the ground in a heap at the horseman's feet.

Father Patrick lets out a sincere "Oof!" when he hits the ground.

"Leave him be!" Lara threatens the horseman.

The horseman chuckles at Lara's empty threat and comments, "For the child has spirit, but what is that? When this island is littered with the bones of holy men. My gift to them for their spirit in obstructing me from claiming my rightful inheritance." A crash of thunder sounds in the distance.

"And this inheritance, I would wonder, would be some way to explain why your walking and breathing when you should be gone long past," Father Patrick inquires.

"The inheritance is the gift of eternal life," the horseman replies. "Contained within an ancient scroll. Concealed by the Dollard Abbot and his cohorts. The scroll, which draws forth pale demon blood through my veins. I am no longer man. I am one for the earth and one for above the gaping abyss of Hades."

"So why stay on the island?" Father Patrick asks. "Came for a holiday and fell in love with the scenery?"

"Hold your yapping tongue for want I clip it!" The horseman answers angrily, and kicks Father Patrick. "Boils and plagues plaster over this island and its treacherous inhabitants! For it was they, and their ox little abbot, who plotted to incarcerate me in this dungeon hall for an eternity. I, Vladimir Kaleta, who worshipped in the first Kremlin, who butchered the Swede and the Lefsky on the banks of the River Neva. Incarcerated within this prison of flowing water!"

"Running water... You're trapped here by running water!" Lara exclaims with excitement, now being armed with useful information.

"Demons cannot cross running water," Father Patrick confirms aloud.

"Indeed. The abbot's final trick before I was transformed." The horseman turns to Lara, "And you shall find a way to shore up this stream or your holy man shall be opened up and gutted like live fruk." He heaves Father Patrick back onto the steed, mounts it, and rides back into the barn. The barn doors slam shut behind the horseman after he passes."

Doing so will stop the water wheel, which in turn stops the flowing water that surrounds the barn. As Lara makes her way out of the small mill, the horseman bursts out through the barn doors. It raises both its arms triumphantly and lets out a satisfied roar.

The horseman dismounts and begins to talk to Father Patrick, "Your child has done her job well, and I taste freedom for the first time in an eon. You will now fear me? For you have served your purpose well holy man, and for this should I exercise mercy as a god might?" The horseman pulls Father Patrick off the horse and holds him up by the scruff of his neck.

Father Patrick answers cheerfully, "Now that'd be nice, but I'm not holdin' me breath." Father Patrick gives the demon horseman a pat on the shoulder.

The horseman is not amused, "Yes, I shall spare, and secure for you a fate worse than death! For when you pass beyond this world, Heaven shall no longer welcome you, for you have released a demon." He is practically dripping with glee.

Father Patrick replies confidently, "My faith will protect me from feckless lesser demons as yourself."

Father Patrick's trivialization of the horseman infuriates the horseman. The horseman head-butts Father Patrick and then flings him against the open barn door.

Lara arrives just in time to witness the horseman abusing Father Patrick, "Father!"

The horseman turns his attention to Lara, "Ah! The child. I shall snuff out her life as a candle." Demon begins to step toward Lara.

Father Patrick is still a little stunned from having been hit on the head and flung into the door reaches out toward Lara and tells her, "The book from the library..."

The horseman continues to step toward Lara, but now she is backing away as demon approaches.

Father Patrick gives Lara more detailed instructions, "The names... Read out the names."

Lara produces the book from her backpack, flips it around so that it is right side up, and opens it to a list of names. She begins to read the names aloud in order, "Askeroth. Aqueil. Arrancula. Belial. Bucom. Boliath." The demon horseman continues to approach and Lara is panicked. She calls out to Father Patrick, "Help me!" She gasps as the horseman is practically on top of her.

"Keep reading, girl, you're almost there" Father Patrick encourages.

Lara obeys, "Camos." She grows impatient and starts skipping down the list of names, "Masteflou." The horseman raises his sword to take a swing at Lara, when Father Patrick suddenly lunges at the horseman from behind. Father Patrick grabs the horseman around the shoulders, but the horseman breaks free of the Father's hold and flings him aside.

The horseman is now right in front of Lara. It raises its sword to take a deep stroke down at Lara, but she calls out one more name from the bestiary, "Verdilet."

Suddenly the horseman is frozen in place and unable to move. He cries out in confusion, "How is this? I move to strike and yet cannot!"

Father Patrick walks over to Lara and dusts himself off, "You've done well, girl, and before you ask, I'll tell ya. The book you've got, I myself was looking fer it, but as I couldn't find it, assumed you had it, and lucky ya did!"

"But how?" Lara asks puzzled.

Father Patrick continues to explain, "If you name a demon, you have power over it, and you named him! It's your shout, Lara."

The horseman is furious and curses her, "For this you shall burn for eternity! I shall drown you in a mire of your own entrails before I squeeze!"

"Be quiet," Lara commands the demon, and indeed, he becomes silent.

"Whatcha reckon we get out of this God-forsaken place and go and get a nice cup of tea with Winston?" Father Patrick asks Lara. "Almost forgot, would you be wantin' to wave goodbye to our little friend?" He chuckles.

Lara turns her head and issues another command to the demon, "Back to where you belong!" Lara looks around but the demon is gone. Father Patrick puts his arm around Lara and turn and leave.

Dawn approaches and the chartered boat has returned for Father Patrick. Father Patrick and Lara stand at the bow of the boat as it ferries them back to the mainland. Father Patrick still has his arm around a shaken Lara. He tells her, "And you'll have learned a few valuable lesions from that, I be thinkin'."

"You'd be thinking right, Father," Lara agrees.

Back in the study at the Croft manor, a much older Father Patrick Dunstan completes his story, "Her curiosity was eventually her failing."

Jean-Yves interrupts to put a different spin on Father Dunstan's statement, "The path she chose was the path she loved, and for this we should celebrate, not grieve." Meanwhile, in a distant desert in Egypt. Werner Von Croy is still searching for Lara. In the hazy dusty desert sun, he lifts his head. His face is furrowed with worry. In the shadow of the Great Pyramids, Von Croy turns and heads toward a group of Egyptian workers that he has hired to help him find Lara. Jean-Yves speaks the emotions that he assumes Von Croy is currently feeling, "Although I fear for Von Croy. Pursuing his inner demons. Driven half to madness in his quest for her final resting place. He will not find peace in himself until this is complete."

Lightning strikes and thunder claps back in stormy Surrey, England. The three men have arisen from the study and are walking down a hallway. The electricity has been restored to the manor.

They stop a mirror mounted on the wall of the hallway, and Jean-Yves exclaims, "Ah! The infamous trophy room, and you will be doing the acrobatics to enter, Winston? Yes?"

Winston reaches up and takes hold of a light fixture mounted beside the mirror. He explains, "Miss Croft did enjoy her little games." Winston turns the fixture counter-clockwise and the wall with the mirror slides back and swings away. The three men enter the tunnel. The darkness of the tunnel leading to the trophy room is lit by a candelabra wielded by Jean-Yves. Winston continues, "And here it is, gentlemen. The artifact which lead to the animosity between Miss Croft and Von Croy. Ending ultimately in this terrible business."

Winston walks up to a case covered by a satin spread. He pulls the covering aside to reveal a strange round artifact floating in the middle of a glass case. The artifact consists of two concentric hemispheric shells, which rotate around a smaller central glowing sphere. The artifact hums with energy. The three men stand around the case and peer at the artifact.

As they peer at the artifact the glowing shape brings to mind another story. The story of how Lara Croft managed to reclaim this artifact after she lost it in Cambodia.

An African-American man wearing a communication's headset is seated at a complicated console inside an unmarked van parked in front of an industrial building. A 3D vector rendering of the Iris spins on the display in front of him. He speaks into a microphone, "Okay Miss Croft, I'm presuming, by the lack of communication that you're at Industries' building, right? Containing our little prize? The Iris?"

"Affirmative," Lara confirms.

"Right! Now this is what you're good at, yeah? Time to switch roofs."

"Switch roofs?" Lara asks. "Easy to say from the ground floor. Wouldn't you agree?" Lara is on top of the building that the van is parked in front of. She's dress in an all black cat burglars' suit. She too is wearing a communications headset, along with a set of special glasses. She's holding onto the bar of a hang-glider and perched on the edge of the roof of the building.

"C'mon now! Stiff upper lip. Top pole, and all that. Time to get hip with Zip."

Lara looks down at the Timex TMX watch she is carrying to see that the current time is 10:09 pm. "Gone," Lara comments. She pushes off from the roof of the building and floats across to the roof of the facing building. Just as she manages to get her toes onto the building, a stiff wind blows the hang-glider back. Lara quickly slips forward to avoid being blow off the building. She falls, and causes her headset to send a loud squeal of feedback to the man in the van.

"Yow! Jimi Hendrix is back! Lara? You there, Lara? Croft? Are you getting' this?" The man calls out, trying to determine if Lara is all right.

Lara shakes off the little fall, and gets to her feet. "Bly me," She tells him as she begins to rappel down the side of the building.

"Geez, now that was a blast! What the hell happened?" The man asks.

"Never mind, Yankee, I'm going in," Lara rappels down to a circular vent. She pushes off with her legs so that she swings away from the building, and she draws her pistol with one hand. She fires two shots, which blows the vent off the building. Lara swings right into the circular ventilation shaft and slides down into building.

Lara slides down the circular ventilation shaft and lands in a rectangular shaft. She speaks into her headset, "I'm in."

"Okay now lets see what you can do. Follow the vent to the main corridor. You've come in at the thirteenth floor. Unlucky for some," Zip, the African-American man and security-system expert that is sitting in the van below, warns her.

"Unlucky for them. Any welcome party?" Lara asks.

"That's your job, girl" Zip protests. "I ain't no X-ray vision super-hero."

"I'd noticed the last bit," Lara replies.

"Oooh, you are so sharp you're gonna cut yourself," Zip taunts. "Just remember. The less attention the better. You dig?"

"Thanks, but that thought had crossed my mind," Lara replies.

"Just makin' sure you're on the ball, lady," Zip tells her.

"Enough talk. Contact me if you see anything," Lara interrupts.

"Whew! That girl has got one bad attitude," Zip exclaims.

Lara surveys the ventilation ducts. There are fans and grates. Some of the grates appear to be in severe disrepair.

Lara looks down into the room below and transmits the information through her headset. Lara sees a cybernetic suit hanging from a support in the room below. She asks Zip over the headset, "You getting this?"

Zip replies, "Whoa baby! I'm getting too much of that. Looks like the Hulk on steroids."

"You want to tell me what it's doing here?" Lara asks.

"Couldn't be sure," Zip replies. "I hear that VCI is working on some new suit for the military. Suddenly, the door leading into the room below slides open and a man dressed in one of those cybernetic suits steps through. The suit makes mechanical squeaks with each clunky step. Zip is compelled to comment, "And that, sure as mom's apple pie, ain't no civilian protection."

"Can't argue with that," Lara agrees. The man walks over to a large mechanical storage cabinet and presses a button. The doors on the cabinet slide open, and a large circular rack extends from within the cabinet, presenting the man with an array of identical high-tech weapons. The man removes two of the weapons from the rack, with one in each hand. "And the guns?" Lara asks.

"Well, my picture ain't all that clear, but it looks like low frequency laser weapons. Limited range. You get in the way of one, and they'll have to take you out in a plastic sack," Zip answers grimly.

"I get the picture," Lara answers.

"Whoo! You'll get a spider dropping there and it's toast," Zip exclaims over the headset.

"Find me some way to turn this off," Lara tells him.

"Don't get you knickers in a twist. I'm on the case," Zip replies.

"Look what I have to work with," Lara sighs.

"Don't knock it, Lady. I'm your eyes and ears," Zip proclaims from the van.

"More of those and less of the lip would be preferable," Lara warns.

When Lara emerges from the ventilation duct, Zip will call her via the headset and comment on the sleeping guard, "Check it out, man! No regard for company security. Sleeping like a baby. Somebody could just glide in and slide that ID card out from under his nose. Somebody slinky, that is."

Part way across the catwalk, Lara will notice another man in a VCI cybersuit. Zip chimes in over the headset and Lara will stop to listen, "Uh oh! You're going to have to play some fancy moves to get past this quarterback."

"You got any suggestions? Anything to distract him?" Lara asks.

"I got a suggestion right here: Go find a different way out! 'Cuz you don't want to know what happens when you make the Hulk mad." Zip answers.

"Indispensable information as always," Lara quips.

"That face ain't got armor on it, right? Well, that's how you're gonna have to do it. You're one hard-boiled lady. Now, you'll think of somethin'," Zip offers.

"What exactly am I hiring you for?" Lara wonders aloud.

"My extraordinary knowledge of security systems, and my unsurpassed skill in crackin' them. Not to mention my ineffably addictive personality," Zip shoots back.

"You're right. I won't mention it," Lara huffs.

Run toward the control room that is ahead and to the right. Zip will call Lara on the headset, "Now this ain't gonna be easy. This door operates on that pass you got 'cept it needs two inserted at the same time."

"Meaning what exactly?" Lara asks.

"Meaning, against your better judgment, try not to go killing that guy 'cuz we need him, yeah?" Zip replies.

Zip chimes in over the headset, "Okay, you've been a bad girl, and before I tell you what your punishment is, I just want to say that there's no point in arguing cuz I ain't gonna be listnin'. Take all your metal items -- yes guns is metal -- and put 'em in the tray. Now!"

Lara asks skeptically, "So you're telling me to disarm myself in a building crawling with armed guards?"

"Now if I was listening, which I ain't like I told ya before, I would counteract this argument by alerting the person asking me this to the fact her guns ain't against ten foot tall walking tanks anyway! But I ain't listening, so I ain't sayin nuthin'."

"I'm doing it," Lara concedes. "But if you mess this up..."

"Alright, I'm listening again," Zip interrupts cheerfully. "And trust me, I ain't going to mess this up, okay?"

"Do I have a choice?" Lara asks.

"Nope," Zip answers.

Zip chimes in on the headset again, "I don't like to be the bearer of bad tidings, but the stairs are out, unless you're bullet-proof. You ain't bullet-proof, are ya?"

"What about the lifts?" Lara asks.

"Well, the lifts is going down, and normally, when trying to escape somewhere, ain't it clever to head in the direction of the exit? Like the roof?"

"Right," Lara concedes again. "That would be clever. Like making me ditch my guns?" She quips.

"Ouch!" Zip replies. "Yeah, maybe you'd better start looking for some weapons. Hey, don't sweat it girl, the man will save you."

"Hasn't happened yet," Lara replies under her breath.

The emergency brakes activate, but not soon enough to prevent the elevator from hitting the bottom of the shaft quite hard. After the elevator comes to stop, Zip calls anxiously to Lara over the headset, "Lara are you there? Lara! Lara! You broke? You ain't dead, is ya? C'mon girl, answer me!"

Lara, who is lying on the floor of the elevator, climbs to her feet and moans. "Gonna be sore in the morning." She answers weakly.

Zip lets out a sigh of relief. "I knew you was too tough for a fall like that," Zip tells her happily.

"Uh, I'm on the ground floor, aren't I?" Lara asks dejectedly and coughs.

"Bing! Ground floor. Depart here for gun-toting refrigerator men and long walk back upstairs," Zip answers sarcastically. He chuckles. "Sorry girl, you got it, but hell, you in one piece, ain't ya?"

Lara coughs a few more times. "Never felt better," She answers.

After Lara enters the room, two security cameras will activate and scan the room. Zip calls over the headset, "You're doin' good, girl, but just you hold there a minute. I'm checking for somethin'."

Lara can see the warm glow of welding torches slowly burning through the steel doors. "Zip, they're coming through the door with welding torches," Lara tells him, anxiously.

"Yeah, yeah, just. . ." Zip interrupts himself, "Gotcha! Top corners of the room. Motion trackers. Fast movement triggers 'em. So take it easy. Well? What are ya waiting for?"

Zip will call over the headset with more instructions, "Now, you wanna get yo self in a position where you can see the keypad, cuz once every three or four cycles, mister mobile refrigerator there is gonna type in the code."

"You don't say", Lara replies.

"You got it baby! I is just full of vital information," Zip chimes back.

"You're full of something," Lara answers.

Zip gets defensive, "Without me, lady, you'd be just some has-been hanging by your cuticles over a spike pit in some arm pit back water country..."

"Sounds preferable," Lara interrupts.

Elsewhere in the building, a VCI guard approaches a large security door and presses an intercom button. After the intercom is activated the soldier reports, "Permission to enter, Sir! I have important news on the situation regarding the intruder."

The large doors slide open and the guard steps through. Inside the spacious office, two men with very similar facial characteristics are behind a large mahogany desk. One is standing and dressed in a brown suit, while a younger man is seated in an electric wheelchair with a plaid blanket over his legs beside the first man. The younger man appears to be recovering from severe injuries. A large fire is cracking in a fireplace behind the two men. The man in the wheelchair rolls forward but the older man asks, "And?"

The guard enters, salutes, and reports, "It, uh, it seems that she's managed to evade my men and remove the Iris, Sir." The guard's voice echoes in the cavernous office.

"Incompetence!" The man in the wheelchair accuses. "Where is this intruder now or have you mislaid her once more?" His voice has a distinct German accent.

"Last visual contact in the lobby, Sir!" The guard answers.

"Last visual contact?" The man in the wheelchair asks, incredulously. "So you have lost her again. Find her! Find her now!" A large display screen descends from the ceiling and unfolds before the two men behind the desk.

"All exits are blocked. There is no need for these histrionics. Do we have identification yet?" Asks the older man in the brown suit. His accent is also distinctly German as well.

"Only visual, Sir!" The guard answers. A view of Lara running through the lobby displayed on endless repeat on the large display screen.

They watch the figure repeatedly run past the camera's view and disappear behind a corner. The man the wheelchair recognizes her and speaks, "No need. I know who the intruder is. Lara Croft."

"Ah, your past once more comes back to haunt you, Werner, foolish boy." The older man in the brown suit chides. "No matter, she will not escape. Place the building under full alert."

Outside the building, a helicopter circles around the building. A guard aboard the helicopter launches rockets at the fire escape, which damages it.

Lara hears a suspicious humming and calls Zip on the headset, "Got a feeling this isn't quite what it seems."

Zip confirms Lara suspicions, "And I knew you weren't just a pretty face. Try infrared on the shades, girl."

Zip will call over the headset, "Keep moving, girl. You got too many escorts tonight."

"You get used to it," Lara replies. "Where's the exit?"

"Now, I got you an exit, but you got to promise not to ..." Zip replies, but static and the machine gun fire make it impossible to make out what he's saying.

Zip cheers Lara over the headset, "Yeah girl! You done good! Now get your boney ass outta there! And hey, you stay in touch yeah? Maybe we gonna be pen friends."

"Boney ass?" Lara huffs. "I doubt it, but I'll be in touch. Clear the area, Yank. I'm coming out."

Bullets from the men chasing Lara riddle the door with holes. Suddenly, Lara kicks the door open and bursts through onto the roof. Runs forward toward the hang glider that she used to land on this building.

Three cyborgs emerge on the roof and open fire on her, but they miss. She cartwheels over the hang glider, and grabs onto the handle while flipping over the edge of the roof.

The cyborgs charge toward Lara's position, but she is already aloft. One of the cyborgs attempts to fire another shot at her as she floats down to an adjacent rooftop, but misses. Lara gracefully touches down on the roof of the shorter building across the street and keeps running, leaving the cyborg to curse himself.

Back at the Croft Manor, the three friends stand around and raise their glasses in a toast to Lara. Jean-Yves makes the toast, "To absent friends."

"Indeed," Winston agrees.

"God rest her soul," Father Dunstan adds.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, Von Croy's search goes on. The desert winds whip up the sand as Von Croy looks up from a schematic of the temple that they are trying to excavate.

"Mister Von Croy! Mister Von Croy!" A young boy wearing a tunic and a turban calls, as he runs up to Von Croy. Von Croy turns to the boy as he emerges through the wind blown sand. "Come quickly!"

The boy puts is arm around Von Croy's waist and Von Croy places his hand on the boys shoulder so that they will not get separated in the sand storm. They reach a familiar entrance to the temple, and the boy picks up a lantern.

They proceed down the steps into the temple. The dark tunnels are illuminated only by the boys lantern. There is the sound of digging.

"What is it, man? What have you found?" Von Croy asks the men digging. They produce a familiar brown object, and Von Croy commands impatiently, "Pass it to me. Pass it to me!" He holds the object to find that it is Lara's backpack. "We've found her!" He exclaims.

以上是按照中間有分格就分成一篇的~~到第四大關時因為常常出現遊戲中途對話...所以分成好多段= =~
但卻都短短的~
終於也貼完了:D

好长呀！
@@

这就是我要做的?!@@
看我的稿子就没觉得那么长.....貌似文本蛮少...

仔细一看,这是7啊老兄~~

引用Zip cheers Lara over the headset, "Yeah girl! You done good! Now get your boney ass outta there! And hey, you stay in touch yeah? Maybe we gonna be pen friends."

5

嘿嘿,再从第一贴看起(这次绝对不是扫一眼),不就是风梦秋的翻译原文吗?
原来交代动画那些罗嗦的话也是翻译啊?
可是有些奇怪,我觉得那对男女并不是劳拉的父母,本来有证据,现在早忘了,再容我想想....

不是劳拉的父母
有证据
忘了

1.你
2.在重复
3.我的
4.话?
5.确实不是吧,那是谁?TRAVELLER?

是什么亲戚吧，我觉得不是她父母阿
有这个印象