Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lara Croft x Reader AU

Chapter 3: Funding and Transport

Stumbling into her flat, Lara was thankful to finally be home, that whole day had her feeling drained and she could not wait to finally fall into bed after the humiliation she felt from what seemed to be one of the longest days of her life.

Flipping the light switch a couple of times only to be left with a dark hallway. "Great." Grumbling under her breath something vague regarding fuses and calling an electrician soon it wasn't until she had already passed by the living room she noticed an intruder.

"Lara Croft?" Backing herself up, Lara turned herself to the living room she turned to face the woman.

"Who... who are you? How did you get in here?"  Her body tense and suddenly very thankful she was also near the entrance to the kitchen should anything go wrong.

"I came down the chimney. Ho, ho, ho." The strange woman shrugged her fur shawl off her shoulders to drape over the backrest of the chair she was sat on. Her features still indecipherable due to the power outage. "My name is Helga Sinclair. I'm acting on behalf of my employer who has a most intriguing proposition for you. Are you interested?"

"Your employer?" Lara ended up asking hesitantly, distrusting of the person who had still not said how she had managed to break into her house. "Who is your employer?"

And this was how Lara managed to find herself in the passenger seat of this stranger's car, approaching a large house she felt like she recognised, but couldn't quite put her finger on. "This way please." Helga opened the door for Lara before entering the building with the expectation for her to follow the strange woman. As soon as they entered Helga turned around to straighten the leather jacket and smooth down the thin grey hoodie underneath that Lara had chosen to wear as she strayed to break her down on what seemed to be a set of rules she had to follow. "You will address him as "Mr. Roth" or "Sir." You will stand unless asked to be seated. Keep your sentences short and to the point. Are we clear?" Giving her a nervous nod, Helga then chuckled as she gave a final departing word. "And relax. He doesn't bite... often."

With that chilling sentence Lara resigned herself to looked about her surroundings as she ventured further into the house. No longer than after a few seconds of looking did her gaze rest upon a framed picture of her father and a friend hanging on the wall above a fireplace. "Dad?"

"Finest explorer I ever met, your father." Her head whipping around to face someone she had not seen in a long time. "Roth?"

"How've you been girl?" The Sheffielder opened his arms wide for the girl to run into, the two staying there for a moment before separating.

The young woman looked up to the older man with a crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. "So, you're 'the employer'? What's all this about?"

A look of deep confusion  crossed his face as he looked down to meet her gaze. "The employer? Why so vague? You didn't realise you were coming to see me?"

Lara shook her head, eyes still fixed on him as if he would disappear any minute when he gave out a sound of realisation and a nod. "Of course, Helga likes to be mysterious, even at times like this." A pointless act it seemed to Lara, wasting time and being inefficient when she could have just told her she was taking her to see Roth.

"Either way what's going on what do you mean by 'times like this'?"

"Ah!" Conrad exclaimed as he clapped a hand to Lara's shoulder, getting her to follow him as he brought out a package wrapped in brown paper out from a drawer in his desk, handing it to Lara. "It's for you. It's from your father. He brought that package to me years ago. Said if anything were to happen to him I should give it to you when you were ready whatever that meant."