Tale of Lara

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Pursuit and Prejudice

"We're not animals and we refuse to be hunted!"

Alsius, Nataru with her laptop under her armand Lara closely following the group, with the sword sheath hanging on herback, which was a sight to behold. The dragon shifted his attention over hisshoulder at the two females.

"Everyone knows what their job is?"

"Seriously?" The bunny girl sounded even less amused than usual. "We went over the briefing five minutes ago..."

The dragon laughed openly and threw a grin on his hacker associate, "Just checking if you are paying attention. Lara..."

The blue dragoness tensed up as if she had done something wrong. Alsius seemingly paid no attention to her embarrassment. Nataru rolled her eyes in response to the situation in front of her.

"Do you know how to use a gun, Lara?" the demonic dragon asked.

"Point and pull the trigger. Let it cool off when the indicator starts flashing red. Pretty straightforward, if you ask me," Lara responded firmly and with a determined look on her face.

"You just echoed what I told ye a minute ago," Alsius stated, his grin getting a bit unsure. "Don't get cocky, please. We don't want any attention drawn our way..."

"Right," the dragoness put her thumbs behind her utility belt, the white hair falling into her field of vision. "Hold off combat unless necessary..." She corrected her hair and put it behind her ear. The white locks were glowing in the sun like a campfire in the deepest night.

They entered the processing plant's reception area.

"I'll be on comms if you need me, Lara. You too, Alsius..." Nataru interfered. "Stay in one piece, both of you." She gave the two a stare of concern and headed in the opposite direction to scout for access points.

Lara and Alsius went inside the building through reception. The hallway was dark and without power, as expected. Alsius mumbled, "As if I ever need help..."

Lara glanced at him with one eyebrow raised, "What?" He didn't react to her and instead pointed forward.

"Let's split here. I'll meet you here once we are done with our assignments. Good luck," And Alsius was quickly gone in the depths of the complex.

"Good luck, huh?" Lara shook her head and went after the assignment of her own. "Okay, I guess."

The building was unlike anything Lara had everseen. Clean and polished composite walls were surrounding the dragoness. Theircolours were changing on an unknown pattern from white, to grey, to black. Eachtime she turned a corner, a different symbol was drawn on the wall, most likelypointing the way or warning the staff of potential dangers. Lara passed by somecargo holders with bottled liquids in small canisters, wondering what in thehell could the humans be making in this place.

The CTU in her auricle suddenly crackled with the voice of Nataru.

"Lara, you there?"

Lara instinctively grasped for her ear and rubbed the uncomfortable buzzing sensation out. "Yeah. It's weird how your voice can reach me from miles away," she responded.

"It's not miles, but I get your point," Nataru's voice sounded focused as if she was multitasking. "Before the system went out, the sensors had picked up an intruder in your area. Stay on your toes."

"Yeah, I know. We were told at the briefing that the 'orange demon' was involved," replied the dragoness. "The one everyone can't shut up about..."

Lara kept walking through the dark corridor, gun out and finger on the trigger. She had a bad feeling about the mission, and the bad feeling only seemed to be getting worse with her walking deeper into the complex.