A New Beginning

When you find that one person who connects you to the world, you become someone different.
Someone better.
When that person is taken from you, what do you become then?

A slight summer breeze was slipping through the cracks of a subway cart.
Different persons went in and out of the cart, as the subway reached another of its destinations.
However there was John, that didn't look up or moved when this occurred.
The sight of his clothes and face could tell he hasn't changed, washed or shaved himself in quite some time now.
He took another sip of his bottle of booze and led another station pass him by.

"Wonderful. I'll meet you in fifteen minutes." Lara just arrived at her luxury suite on the top floor of the World Center Hotel in Upper Manhattan, New York City. Zip had booked the room for her as she had been terribly busy all week. She opened the door with her key card and took a hasty look around. She didn't exactly care about what it looked like much but the beautiful white leather sofa and huge glass table on top of the ornamented carpet in the centre of the room were to her liking. The bed looked inviting - just about any old mattress would have looked inviting to her at this point - and the obligatory scenery paintings on the beige walls were a nice touch.

Lara just got off the phone with Professor Eddington and arranged a meeting at the Columbia University right across the street when she put her phone and backpack on the table and headed for the bathroom to change into something a little more formal. Well, as formal as her wardrobe allowed for. The archaeologist was anxiously awaiting a detailed report on the ancient artifact her old friend had informed her about.

The subway was almost at its end destination where John was forced to go off at.
Evening slowly fell and the breeze became more chill.
The bottle he held was almost empty and so was the cart he was in.
All of a sudden the voices of loud people were heard. A small gang.
John heard a quick dialogue between the so called "leader" of the gang and a passenger that bumped into him.
His eyes still focused on the ground, he heard the voice of the gang leader coming near.
"Besides, when we take the car, we don't get to meet new friends."
The boy stepped further and walked up to the in thoughts sunken man.
"Like this guy." he then laughed.
in the wake of John's eyes he saw the kid reaching out for his drink but as quick as any reflex can go he grabbed the boy's arm and stared
right back in his eyes.

It was already way past her usual time but it was not every day that the infamous - or famous, depending whether you were a fan or not - Lara Croft was gonna come by to pay the University a visit. Or Professor Eddington to be specific.
Nobody was aware that Isabela knew about the secret meeting, of course. Or so she hoped. But a quick, careful glance around reassured her that everything was still going according to plan. No one suspected and no one knew. She might just seem like the average University teacher, which she was in a way, but there was something much darker and much more secret down below that identity.

She made sure to put her acting and contacts to good use. Besides her she had made a few other students and a couple of teachers stay as well, making it look like they were all studying or busying themselves with something. So she was not sitting there all by herself.
Of course, there was a chance that Professor Eddington and Miss Croft would move to a more seclusive area. In fact, she was rather certain. That's why she had made sure that there was at least one of her agents always around Professor Eddington, to inform her via secret, tiny GPS where he was and when he was there. At all times.

She smiled to herself as she continued pretending to be reading up on something.

She just finished changing into a dark blue shirt and black pants and threw her brown coat on before heading back outside into the windy streets. She didn't bring much with her, only her black leather purse with her headset, in case she needed to contact Zip, a few documents and a book that she thought might be related to the artifact.

Reaching the university took her only a few minutes on foot and after she entered the west wing of the building, where Professor Eddington's office was located, two students immediatly bumped into her in the doorway and didn't bother apologizing at all as they went past her. Lara shook her head and stepped into the surprisingly crowded corridor. She expected the offices to be rather empty this late in the evening and was hoping for a quiet place to meet the professor at. The archaeologist had originally suggested to meet in her hotel room even though she knew how blinkered Oliver was in that regard. He had always preferred his accustomed work places for rendezvous points. She still didn't think it was a good idea to see him here and talk about a potentially dangerous relic but she had to give in eventually if she wanted to know more.

A few seconds ticked by as they shared eye contact. As quickly as Reese grabbed him he also released him. Dazzled by his confused thoughts.
The teenager shook his head looked over to his fellow mates and then returned to John.
"You didn't bring enough for the whole group." he said with a teasing tone in his voice.
John sighed his eyes back to the floor as the group and the kid came close to the man.
"I have to teach you about sharing." he continued.
One of the guys of the gang, dressed in a ruby colored shirt, goes for John who jumps up and grabs his arm.
A slight crack was heard and a yell as Reese dislocated the poor kid's arm.
Another gangster went for him but the man easily kicked him back while he shoved the guy in the ruby shirt on the ground.
The guy didn't even hit the ground yet, as John shoved the third but last gangster's head against a pole.
The gang's leader was the only one left. Reese grabbed him by his throat and they once again shared eye contact.
Don't do it. Let him go.
The conflicted thought entered his mind and he pushed the kid away.
His hands reached for his head as he stumbles out of the cart leaving his victims behind and went onto the busy streets of New York.

The minute Miss Croft entered the building, Isabela heard the awaited beep on the tiny gear, positioned under her belt. Casually, she tapped it so it wouldn't be beeping again. She knew now that Miss Croft was in the building.

Isabela looked up from her books, just casually scanning the area when she saw Miss Croft step through the door.
She had never seen the woman herself, articles, pictures, rumors, sure. And she had to admit, that she was even more intimidating as she had ever heard. Miss Croft carried herself with a self-confidence that had not come easy, she had fought for it, she had earned it. This woman in the doorway knew what she was capable off, knew who she was but carried no arrogance along with that knowledge and self-respect.
Isabela looked back down, pretending to read and couldn't help but twitch the corner of her lips in a small smile.

She heard Professor Eddington before she saw him, he was babbling to another professor about something Isabela didn't know the story of, but he sounded agitated. For a minute Isabela was worried that one of her people had given them away. But they were good, they were the best and knew better than to make a mistake. But everything was possible.
However, Isabela remained calm and collected.

"Lara! It's so good to see you!" Professor Eddington exclaimed from the end of the hallway. He hasn't changed much over the years. He still looked like the clumsy paranoid historian with his unkempt grey hair, his rumpled beige suit and his old fashioned reading glasses. Lara couldn't help but smile the second he started waving at her like a little boy.

The two friends hugged after she made her way over to him and Oliver introduced the adventurer to an elderly man in a similar outfit standing next to him; his friend and colleague Dr. Marcus Newkirk who was responsible for his promotion back at Cambridge. Eddington had mentioned him a couple of times but Lara had never met him in person. She had only ever heard the best of things about the man from various sources, including Professor Eddington himself.

"A pleasure to meet you," Lara said and smiled politely as she shook the man's hand after Oliver told him who she was.

"The pleasure is all mine," Dr. Newkirk responded and examined the archaeologist over the top of his glasses.

Oliver had mentioned his friend was in on the artifact but Lara didn't know he was going to join them that day. She was skeptical enough about them meeting here but the place being that crowded and another person - especially one she had never even met before - being part of the conversation didn't help her feel any better at all.

"I suggest that we talk in my office," Oliver said and pointed at a door that had a sign with his name on it right at the opposite side of the hallway. "I have already gathered all relevant documents I could obtain. I think some of them might be extremely interesting to both of you."

As the darkness fell on the streets of New York, the usual atmospheric lightning of commercial stands and street lanterns really began to do it's job.
Various people hurried their ways while Reese just leisurely strolled through this crowd.
His head was still faced to the floor as he got pushed various times by some people who were in too much of a rush to even notice a guy like him.
When he turned into a dark alleyway to return back to his homeless encampment, he heard footsteps following him into this unusual place.
John's first instinct was to walk faster, and while he did, so did the footsteps behind him.

He turned around and frowned in surprise, there was the same gang leader wielding a small pocket knife.
"Revenge, sucker." and he charged at Reese who wasn't in a mood for another fight at all. Yet he grabbed the arm of the guy and forcefully grabbed the knife out of his hand and aimed it to the guy's throat. What John didn't see was two policemen looking into the alleyway while he did this.
"Help me, this fucker wants to kill me!" the kid said, and the policemen came further into the alleyway guns drawn.

"Stop! Drop the knife!" One of them said.
"I'm sorry police officer, it wont happen again." John said in a sarcastic innocent voice and dropped the knife.
He kicked the gangster down and started to make a run for it while the policemen pursued him.

When Isabela heard the name Marcus Newkirk she squeezed the pen in her hand so hard that the top went flying with an audible 'pop' before clattering to the floor.
She started and looked around for it, immediately trying to make up for her mistake by not acting like she had done it due to an emotional outburst. Once she found it she fished for it, mouthing a quiet 'Sorry' to the people close around to have noticed, she topped her performance off with an apologetic and sheepish smile before sticking her nose back into the book she was 'reading'.

"Damn it, Isabela!" she scolded herself inwardly. "Stay calm! This is too big to fuck up now."
But what was he doing here?! Last time she saw him was when he was supposed to deliver an artifact to her but had never shown up at the appointed location. What had happened to him she never did find out. But now here he was.

She was pretty sure he wouldn't recognize her in this outfit and place, especially with her glasses on but she was prepared to act it out if he did.
Isabela's next worry however was Professor Eddington's suggestion of moving the conversation to his office.

They had all sat down at Professor Eddington's study desk. Lara noticed the room looked just like his former office at Cambridge; he had taken everything with him, every single book and object and had arranged them all in the exact same way. Even the furniture looked the same. Dr. Newkirk was seated right next to Lara, at the opposite side of the desk.

"So," Oliver began as he was spreading out the documents he mentioned on the desk, mostly pages from ancient books and what looked like a few old letters at first glance. "The moment you have been waiting for."

Lara picked up one of the papers before her friend could even explain what they were. She was right about it being a letter, probably 15th century. She glanced through the lines, trying to connect what she was reading to "something she might be familiar with", as Eddington put it when he originally informed her about the artifact.

As if a group of youngsters weren't enough problems for today.
He thought as Reese went through all the back alleys he could think of to shake of the policemen. However, they seemed well trained in their knowledge of the street so it was in vain. John tried pushing down objects instead, Trash cans, Random bikes or scooters yet they still kept up as if they weren't real cops at all.

John jumped over a fence and he found himself on the main streets again. Luckily people were making it harder for the policemen to spot him so Reese made a go for it and sprinted to the other side of the busy street. Several cars honked at him while one car didn't break which left him running over the front of the car. The man looked over his shoulder to see if the pursuers were still at it, yet he couldn't see them anymore.
Are they really giving up that easily?

"Hey, Edd?" Isabela hissed, grabbing the bypassing tall, black haired guy once the trio had retreated to Professor Eddington's study room. He stopped, making it look casual as he looked at her.
"Did you install the small chip where I told you to?"
Edd nodded, giving her a slight smirk before going on his way.
Isabela smiled to herself as she began packing her stuff. No need to stick around now.
She put her headphones in, threw on her coat and headed out the door, wishing occasional bypassers a good night.

It was a brisk but pleasant autumn night and lots of people were out to either get home for the weekend or of somewhere else to celebrate.
Isabela hoped in her car and fought her way through traffic, the whole while listening in on the conversation between Miss Croft, Eddington and Newkirk.

She had noticed both Eddington and Newkirk staring at her for several minutes from the corner of her eyes while she was reading the entire letter. A British sailor named James Aldwich wrote his "Dear friend Edmund" from an unnamed island in the North Atlantic Ocean. He mentions he was looking for "the Orb" and that he was as close as never before. The letter ended with Aldwich telling his partner he could not wait to return and present the priceless relic to him.

Both of the men in the room had stayed quiet and were anxiously awaiting Lara's reaction but the second she was done, she turned the piece of paper and started reading it all over again. She heard her colleagues sigh and move in their chairs and could not help but think they were both rolling their eyes into the back of their heads.

"Lara?" Oliver asked carefully.

She knew exactly what the letter was about. She knew exactly what "orb" the two men were writing about and she knew exactly why Eddington had contacted her about it. What she didn't know was where the artifact was now and if the gentlemen ever even got their hands on it. And that bothered her more than she wanted to admit.

After standing at the same spot for almost five minutes looking around for the policemen that chased him he let out a relieved sigh. It seems he did loose them. Blending in with the crowd did seem like a good idea. However that chase did get him nowhere near his destination. It only dragged him further away.

And so he walked backwards the way he ran however avoiding the alleyways for now.
This made him realize how beautiful the streets of NYC can be even so they can be crowded.
A small drop of water fell on his face and he looked up, grey clouds were blocking the view of the starry night sky.
It was only in a few seconds that the rain began to gush down on the streets. People were beginning to ran for cover of the sudden
rainfall and John ran into the nearest building that surprisingly was still open, the Columbia University.
People in expensive attires were looking confused towards the filthy dressed man.
Great out of all the buildings I can take shelter in, I take this place.

Isabela was tapping against her steering wheel while she sat in traffic.
Miss Croft had barely spoken yet, Isabela figured she must be reading something, also the longer it was silent the more Isabela began worrying that Miss Croft might somehow find out about the chip. No one should ever underestimate Miss Croft and Isabela certainly didn't.

She watched as the first drops hit her windshield. Strange. It had been an almost clear night sky just a few minutes ago. She sighed and leaned back, waiting to get off the highway and hopefully soon get home. But more importantly, she was hoping to have at least some clue as to what Miss Croft and Professor Eddington were so excited about by the time she reached her house.

"Is this all you got?" Lara asked as she put the letter back on the desk.

"Unfortunately." Professor Eddigton answered.

"How did you come across this?" She started fishing random pages and documents out of the pile. "And more importantly, where?"

Newkirk and Eddington looked at each other, seemingly surprised about Lara's second question. The second the adventurer had started reading the letter she immediatly began putting things in order in her head, tying her extensive geographical and historical knowledge together. If this orb was related to Atlantean technology, which it definitely was, Lara needed to figure out how and in which context.

His coat dripped on a, what looked like, expensive carpet. Luckily some people had already stopped staring at him and went on with their usual routines. However a caretaker came up and politely asked him to leave the building.
"You really want to send a poor man out back in the cold rain?" John's innocent, mixed with sarcastic voice echoed a bit through the hall.
"Poor old man? You smell like alcohol, must be a drunken street roamer, get out of here." The tone of the man became angrier and he obviously didn't buy it.

Next thing he grabbed Reese by his sleeve and dragged him out of the University. The eyes of the people in the hall were once again back to the scenario at the door. when they saw the two men leaving the building.
The guard pushed John away from the door and John almost slipped over the steps loosing his balance.
"Don't let me see you in here again!" The guy yelled at him over the sound of heavy raindrops hitting the ground, waving his hands as a sign to move along ASAP.
John shook his head and looked at the door. His head felt a bit dizzy and tiring, but he didn't give up that easily, he never did.
Taking his chances, he walked up towards the University's doors again.

Isabela pulled into her driveway and parked her car in the garage, the whole time listening intently to what was going on in the University.
There was the slightest fringe of fear eating away at her that Miss Croft knew about the chip. They have not been speaking much yet and Miss Croft has kept very professional and very subtle. There had been no rise of excitement in her voice. Isabela narrowed her eyes, closing the door behind her and preparing some supper while she was inwardly praying for the best.

"This," Eddington started, stood up and grabbed the letter Lara had just read and put down on the desk. "is one of the many letters from Sir Walter Raleigh's collection."

Lara raised an eyebrow. "Raleigh?"

"That's right."

"His collection of what, exactly?"

"Letters. They're all from British sailor James Aldwich," Dr. Newkirk replied. "They were recently discovered in a study of an abandoned building in Mumbai and I was part of the team that was given the task to decipher them."

"There's not much to decipher, is there?" Lara said and couldn't help but smirk.

Newkirk looked a little mortified and she figured he just about realized she had already figured out what the letter was all about. "Well," he muttered and cleared his throat. "I... well."

"Don't sweat it. That's what I am here for," Lara interrupted and patted the historian on the shoulder.

The warmth of the university again touched his cold wet clothes and he saw the caretaker walk away from the door.
Apparently the man heard the door behind him squeak open because he turned around and sighed.
"Mister-" he began but Reese just walked by and plainly ignoring him.
The entrance hall was a bit emptier than it was before but still some eyes followed him as he walked into the hallway where the men's bathroom was located.
He smirked and deep inside he was thinking on how to annoy the already angry caretaker who surprisingly already was coming in as well. Time to settle this.
"What do you think you're doing! You come inside this university, I throw you out and yet you take your chances." he began to rage. "You give me no choice but to either call the police, or kindly ask you to leave instead and I do hope you will be cooperative. Because-"
The words didn't reach John at all as he walked to the nearest sink and splashed some water in his face. For once he looked up in the mirror and saw how terrible he looked. The words of the man next to him, just muted and memories flew by.
"Ok that's it!" the voice snapped him awake all of a sudden. "I'm calling the police!"
"No need for that buddy." John said and punched him which resulted in the caretaker toppling down on the floor, moaning and holding his nose.
"I'm already leaving." he smirked again, knowing he had his fun and payback.

Isabela inhaled what little was said even faster than she had snarfed down her meal.
Immediately she hurried to her computer room to send out the names that have been mentioned and they got one location. Mumbai.
She wasn't sure if any of that would help but it was better than nothing. Still, she found herself grinding her teeth in anger at Miss Croft's skills. Isabela wouldn't, in fact, have been surprised if she would find the chip as well or if not find and destroy it - she knew it was there.

She hacked into the surveillance camera that looked out to the streets in front of the university and one that was mounted inside just above the door in the hopes of maybe catching a glimpse of anything once Miss Croft would head out. Isabela also dropped Anders a call to get going and head for Miss Croft's hotel room and install a similar chip. It was meager she had to admit, but then again ... she was dealing with the Lara Croft.

Glancing up on one monitor she witnessed some guy, a homeless fellow from the looks of it, enter the university just to get kicked out. She wondered why though, it was a public building.
Isabela also saw him go back in but lost sight of him when he entered the men's room. She wondered why he had come back when he had been kicked out before. She dropped it with a shrug however and waited for feedback from Anders who was entering the hotel building that moment.

"So about this study," Lara continued. "I figure it belonged to Raleigh?"

Newkirk nodded while going through some more of the letters he was holding. "Yes. Almost all of the interior was burned to the ground and the furniture was demolished."

The adventurer raised an eyebrow. "So I figure you found the documents in a hidden space?"

"Yes," Newkirk replied. "A small room behind a bookshelf."

"How old-fashioned," Lara chuckled.

"The question is," Eddington butted in. "Who burnt all his research down?"

"He himself." Lara got up from the chair. "I thought that was obvious." She grinned and grabbed the folders containing the letters and all other documents containing Newkirk's research she could see on the table.

"How is that obv-" the professor stopped when he noticed Lara had turned her back on them and was headed to the door. "Where are you going?"

"I think we are done here, gentlemen. I will contact you as soon as I know what we're dealing with."

As he closed the main bathroom door, a male student walked over and stopped in his tracks when he saw the homeless man coming out.
"You might wanna give him a hand." John said and pointed over his shoulder towards the bathroom door where from behind you still heard the caretaker slightly moaning in pain. Confused, the student rushed through the door and John took this chance to leave this place.
However, once he reached the big hall again, he heard fuss coming from a floor above him with hurried footsteps.
A woman was stepping with haste towards the stairs followed by two dull clothed men who were trying to get her attention. Apparently over a subject they just talked about. The woman, clearly ignoring them, ascended and walked towards the door without a care in the world.
The two men stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked over to her as she walked outside. Mumbling on beneath their breaths.

Reese walked a little closer to hear what the fuss was all about.
"Oliver, You really think she's on to it?" one of the men asked the other clearly sounding concerned. "She looked very determined."
"I'm sure of it, Marcus. It was the right call to contact her, we should know more soon." the other professor said after a small sigh.
"And then we're one step closer into finding it." the one called Marcus said almost obsessed.
"Don't let it get in over your head my old friend. Lara will eventually figure it out. Even so I think she already has, for most of it." and he smirked. "Let's get a nice cup of tea back in my office so that we can re discuss what we've just talked about." The two men walked back onto the stairs and their conversation died down as they made their distance till John couldn't hear it anymore.

"This sounds interesting." John muttered and walked out of the university trying to spot the woman the two professors tried pursued.

Once Isabela heard that Miss Croft was leaving the university, she checked back with Anders who affirmed that the job was done and he was heading out the hotel that very moment.
This had gone more smoothly than she thought but it also didn't mean a thing. Anything could happen.
She poured herself another drink and waited, tapping her finger against the table, staring at the monitor. A million thoughts, guesses, doubts were running through her head but nothing made sense just yet. Isabela was desperately hoping for some answers either delivered by Miss Croft or her research - with what little pointers she had so far.